DISCLAIMER: The characters aren't mine. I'm borrowing them from the esteemed Joss Whedon and J.K. Rawling.
SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: Everything from BtVS Season 1 to Season 6, AtS Seasons 1 to 3, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
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CHAPTER 19:
MESSAGES
Willow was dreaming.
She realized she was dreaming, indeed, that she was having a nightmare of some kind, but could not force herself to awaken.
She was seated in a chair of some kind in front of a roaring fireplace. The room around her was cold, or at least her flesh was, and her breathing felt cold and dead. She was angry about something, a cold, merciless anger that did not cloud her thoughts, despite that she had no control over her thoughts or her movements.
A man appeared in the fire, and a moment later stepped out, twitching nervously. It was Peter Pettigrew. Willow's eyes betrayed no surprise, and when she spoke, it was not her voice, but a man's, or at least, something that sounded vaguely like a man's, only dark, powerful, and inhuman.
"Speak, Wormtail."
"It … it is done, my lord," he said. "The wolf has been driven from the castle."
"He lives, then?"
"Well, yes, my lord, but …"
Willow felt rage and frustration burn behind her eyes, and a cold desire to teach this witless creature a lesson in the consequences of failure. "Crucio," she said.
Peter screamed, and collapsed on the floor, twitching madly, obviously in terrific and inescapable agony. He continued screaming until there was no breath left in him, at which time he began retching. Willow felt her mind let go of the spell, and Peter stopped twitching and gasped for air.
"Now," he said. "Tell me of the fight."
"I … I fought as hard as I could, but there were four of them. My lord, please!"
She felt curiosity, and a dark sense of triumph, burn behind her eyes suddenly. "Four of them? Do you mean that all four of them fought?"
"There was nothing I could do, my lord."
Dark suspicion, then red wrath, burned behind her eyes. "I have no time for your lies, Wormtail. Imperio!"
Peter gave a frightened sob and snapped to attention as though he were a marionette that someone had just begun playing with.
"Tell me the truth, Wormtail," Willow ordered. "Did the witch fight?"
"She … did … my lord."
Willow felt a mirthless smile cross her face. "You're fighting me, Wormtail. I wouldn't have believed you capable. How, exactly, did the witch fight?" She felt her concentrate harder on Peter, demanding his obedience with her mind.
"She uttered a counter-curse to my Sunburst, my lord."
"And?"
"That was all, my lord."
A wicked laugh escaped Willow's chest. "So that was how you were able to fight off the command. There was some truth to it. But tell me, truly, Wormtail, did you believe that means she really fought?"
"I … no … my lord."
"No, indeed." Willow allowed her concentration to fade.
"I … forgive me, please, master!"
"You would seek my forgiveness?" Willow whispered dangerously. There was a hissing sound in the darkness, and Wormtail gave a frightened whimper as a large poisonous snake slithered out of the shadows and into Willow's field of view.
"I would, my lord, anything!"
"Well, you may be in luck," Willow whispered. "I do seem to be in a forgiving mood today. Narcissa," she whispered, turning her voice into the darkness to her left. A tall woman appeared, looking very much like a proud woman who had been taught a great deal of fear and humiliation in a short time.
The woman swallowed, a look of fear in her voice. "Yes … my lord?" she asked.
"I merely wanted you here, Narcissa," Willow said, with frozen, forced patience. "I was explaining to Peter that I can, at times, be forgiving."
"Y … yes, sir."
"Now, Wormtail," she continued, and there was ice and iron in her voice again. "I could let you live. You certainly have not been my greatest disappointment today. Narcissa here was caught trying to warn her son of our plans for him. Her success might have been much more damaging than your failure."
Peter looked at Narcissa and then back again. He licked his lips, searching for words to say.
However, a cold, burning sensation had begun building behind Willow's eyes ever since she had explained what Narcissa had done, whoever her son was and whatever their plans for him were, which Willow realized she still did not know. Willow raised her wand, and realized with a start that it looked exactly like her own when she wasn't dreaming.
"Master …!" Peter squealed.
"But I grow weary, and I certainly can't forgive two people in one day. Avada Kedavra," Willow snarled.
"NOOOO!!" Peter shrieked, and put his hands over his face. There was a roaring sound like a jet taking off in the distance, and a burst of ghastly green light filled the chamber for a brief moment. Willow caught a glimpse of the sitting room of a luxurious home as though it were illuminated by a camera for a brief moment.
A moment later, Peter heaved a sudden breath, and looked at his hands, realizing he was still alive.
Then he saw the prone, lifeless form of Narcissa on the floor in front of him, and backed away with a startled and somewhat queasy yelp.
"Th … thank you, my lord," Peter managed weakly.
"Now," Willow said dismissively, completely ignoring the body on the floor. "We've received word that the boy will be heading to London soon. There is a chance he might bring it with him. Leave Lucius' agent in place. Go to London. If you can get him alone, get it from him there. Kill him if you can."
"I will, Master, I swear it."
"And Wormtail," she said, with a diabolical grin, tapping her wand on her hand suggestively. "Don't fail me again."
Willow awoke, panting, in a cold sweat. As her breaths steadied, she realized she wasn't the only one whose breathing in the room was abnormal. Reflexively, still in a state of half-shock, she grabbed her wand from her bedside table and croaked "Lumos!" Light filled the room. There was no one else there. The breathing was coming from the bunk above her.
"Buffy?"
"Yeah," came a heavy whisper from above her. "Nightmares. You, too?"
"Want to compare notes?"
"Actually, I was going to ask you if you knew any sleeping potions yet, but we can do that first."
Willow listened as Buffy explained what she'd dreamt the previous night.
"I really don't like it, it really felt like one of my old Slayer dreams," she finished. "I haven't gotten one that felt like that since we came here."
"That's bad," Willow admitted. "Mine was worse." She proceeded to tell about what she had seen.
"It was so real," Willow finished. "Except that I've never even heard the name Narcissa, and never used magic like that. The power! Buffy, whatever I was using, it was far away stronger than anything we've done yet. Whatever those spells are, they aren't in any of our textbooks, they're not even mentioned in passing."
"It sounds like they're things we shouldn't be messing with," Buffy noted cautiously.
"I know," Willow admitted. "But listen, do you think there's anything to them?"
"Knowing us? I'd be surprised if there wasn't," Buffy sighed. "Don't they have a teacher for this kind of thing here?"
"Firenze is away in the forest for the summer," Willow explained. Hermione had mentioned something about it, even though she'd had no intention of taking Divination again. "And I'm not sure even he would know anything about these. Most of the dream-interpretation stuff I've read here so far is pitiful."
"Wonderful. So my second question … know any sleeping potions?"
Willow laughed, though it hurt, since she was sporting a bit of a headache. "It'd be time to get up by the time they were ready. It's already five."
Buffy pouted. "It's Sunday, we can sleep in."
"Plus, I'm so shaky at the moment, I doubt I could mix it right. I could end up giving us more nightmares, or we could end up sleeping until fall."
"I could go with the last one," Buffy said, but accepted what Willow was telling her. "All right, I'm going to go for a flight, then. See you at breakfast?"
"Sure," Willow answered, and Buffy grabbed her broom and walked out of the room. Willow noted that Buffy had to have been a little shaken, too, if she was taking the stairs to the roof to get started; for the last few days, she had taken to jumping straight out the window.
Willow sat on the bed for a while afterward, lost in thought.
Crucio.
Imperio.
Avada Kedavra.
She had a feeling she was supposed to know those from somewhere. But she also had a feeling it wasn't the kind of thing she was supposed to simply ask a teacher. Which meant she was going to the library at five o'clock on a Sunday morning. She groaned, trying to clear her head.
She had to transfigure three cups of water into espresso before she was ready to go.
Nearly three hours later, she felt like she could have done with another three cups. She had looked up the most advanced hexes, curses, and jinxes she could find, and couldn't find them anywhere. She cast a glance at the gate to the restricted section, but turned away a moment later. It was time for breakfast.
Buffy was waiting for her at the Slytherin table, looking much better after a relaxing flight and shower.
"Any luck?" the sunny-haired Slayer asked.
"Nothing on either dreams or those curses," Willow admitted. "Maybe we're both just going crazy."
"We'll get it eventually," Buffy said comfortingly. "Even Giles took longer than three hours to find things most of the time, and he's been doing this for longer than both of us combined."
Willow nodded glumly.
Buffy perked up a moment later. "Ooh, mail!" she said, as owls began fluttering in. "I get to expect a letter from Draco for another few minutes and then get really disappointed all over again. Someone likes you, though."
A beautiful, snowy white owl had just dropped a letter in front of Willow, and she smiled, recognizing Harry's owl, Hedwig.
A moment later, a handsome eagle owl landed in front of Buffy, dropping a letter sealed in a very important-looking, calligraphic "M."
Willow smiled. She felt better already, both for receiving a letter from Harry, and for Buffy receiving something as well. She cracked it open. They had not bothered to go hide to open their mail in a while.
"You go first," Willow said. "You're more important today."
"It's from Draco!" Buffy said in a hushed but excited whisper. She cast a glance around to see if she had spoken too loud, but they were two seats away from the nearest other person and no one seemed to be paying them much attention. Then, a moment later, her face clouded momentarily. "Looks like he's going to have to stay there another week or two, at least." Then her eyes suddenly brightened. "And he says he might like it if I came and visited!"
"Going home to meet the parents already?" Willow grinned slyly. "I think you might have made quite an impression."
"Meet the mother, anyway," Buffy said with a shrug. "And he doesn't say when. But I'll have to think about it, anyway. Remember why I'm here."
Willow frowned. She couldn't argue against that without revealing more than she wanted to say in public, but there was no reason Buffy shouldn't go; the original plan had been for Willow to come to Hogwarts alone.
"Maybe," Willow answered noncommittally. "Now let's see," she said.
Willow,
Thanks for the letter, and thank God you're all right. And good job finding Peter. Spotting Animagi isn't easy. I don't know how much Lupin told you, but he was right that I'd want to know … Peter was a Gryffindor and was friends with my father, godfather, and Lupin when they were at school together. My parents' location was magically shielded from Voldemort until Peter betrayed them and framed my godfather, Sirius Black.
I imagine Lupin said something about it being a good thing I wasn't there. Judging by the ugly burn mark on my wall right about now, he's probably right, but I still wish I had been.
It sounds like you had a lot more you wanted to tell me. Well, this may be kind of short notice, but I'm going to London tomorrow with my aunt and uncle for two days. If you wanted to come up on Wednesday, the fare's on me, and I'd really enjoy it. I'm sure my aunt and uncle would like to get rid of me for a little while, too.
If it's not completely too much, I'd even like to take you out to dinner.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Harry
P.S. Tell Buffy I send her a big, happy thank you.
"Willow, that's awesome!" Buffy burst out as soon as Willow finished reading and passed her the letter. "Well, the last part, anyway."
"What, the big, happy thank you?"
"No, silly, the dinner and trip to London. You are going, aren't you?"
"Just for one day? And whatever happened to you keeping an eye on me?"
"I'm sure Harry will do that just fine," Buffy answered with a sly wink. "Besides, it will give me a chance to study a little on my own for once. Maybe close the gap a little."
Willow flushed scarlet. "Well …"
"Willow, I don't care if I have to tie you up, pack you in a box, and drag you, you're getting on that train."
Willow smiled, and the warmth she'd been feeling since opening Harry's letter bubbled over. She stretched her arms over her head with a pleasant sigh and grinned. "Well, if you insist …"
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks again to everyone who reviewed: Rosemary the Rubix Cube, Draco-FutureBF, Kandice, ShawThang, Peanut Gallery, Dragon Star, Silver Warrior, Carmen, ShadowElfBard, Jedi Buttercup, and Tiger Tiger2! As always, you guys rock my world!
Let me also give a shout out to everyone who has me on Author Alert! I know not all of you are the reviewing type, but thanks for keeping a watch out for my updates, too! Good to know people are enjoying this and paying attention. Makes it feel like it isn't such an enormous waste of time …
COMING SOON: Chapter 20, "Dinner in Atlantis." I'm always surprised by which chapters generate a lot of feedback and which ones don't, but chapter 20 will be the favorite chapter to me of the ones you'll have seen with the exception of chapter six. Harry and Willow go out on a date in Diagon Alley, out to the parts of it that aren't just for wizard kids shopping for school supplies. The evening ends with a bit of dress-up, dinner, and a little surprise.
SNEAK PREVIEW:
No sneak preview for this one! You'll just have to be patient. :-P
(I love this job!)