Can't Go It Alone

Chapter 8

Cnorth

Disclaimer: All HP Characters belong to JKR

Credit: Winthrops Slayer (beta) and whitv.

Dedication: To pixiehumor cuz I know your birthday was yesterday…here's your twin action!

A/N: I will be changing the name of this story as of the next chapter to "Never Alone", so please keep an eye out for the next chapter still. I know some people are hanging on my every word waiting to find out what happens in the forest(lol) but I figured JKR's characters were being neglected, so…here it is! Oh, and I know I told a couple of people what would be covered in this one, and didn't cover it all, but something came up, so I had to cut the chapter short.

Fred and George Weasley were pranksters to the extreme. So it came as no surprise to Professor McGonagall that she saw them in her office on the fifth day of classes. What did surprise her, however, was that they were there of their own accord, without having gotten into trouble.

"Fred and George Weasley, what can I do for you?" she asked, heaving a martyred sigh.

"Well, you see Professor," Fred said, as he casually took a lemon drop from the bowl she had placed on her desk to remind her of her predecessor, "we've invented a spell."

"And we think that this spell might help convince some of the parents who think Hogwarts isn't safe to let their kids come back." George finished, perching himself on the edge of the desk, grinning wildly at the transfiguration professor.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, not believing what she was saying. But she was in a bind—unless Hogwarts kept a high enough enrollment, they would have to close down the school. And although the recent influx of Americans certainly helped, the number of students was dropping every day. Muggleborns and purebloods both were being withdrawn from the school, because their parents, however little or much they might have heard, didn't think that the school was a safe place to be under these conditions.

"Alright, here it is then," Fred muttered.

At almost the same time, in the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey was fretting over the still form of Brittany. She had stitched the wound in muggle fashion, but the girl was still losing blood, and without magic, there was no way she could completely stop it. She couldn't give the girl a muggle transfusion either, because her blood was inherently magical, and giving muggle or wizard blood to an elf could kill her. While Brittany was in no immediate danger of dying at the moment, the amount of time the girl had left was getting shorter and shorter. The head nurse knew that Luna had not gone to the US, since it had been obvious on her face how concerned she was for her friend, but she only hoped the defense professor could get back fast enough with an elven healer.

Meanwhile, the Gryffindor trio was discussing the new students. While Hermione was all glowing reviews, Ron was somewhat sullen, and Harry was slightly suspicious.

"How do we know that one of them isn't working for Voldemort? After all, we found out that they were in danger from an unknown source, and if Professor Burgess hadn't been going to Muggle school there, we wouldn't have been able to get them. She could be a death eater, for all we know! After all, she is a vampire, and they're dark creatures, most of them are siding with him!" he snapped impatiently.

Ron, who had flinched at every mention of the Dark Lord's name, despite the frequency with which Harry used it, mumbled quietly, "Blimey, I wish he wouldn't do that," before going back to his chess game against Seamus.

Hermione, on the other hand, tossed her head angrily. "Honestly, Harry, don't you ever think without that paranoia? Not everyone is evil, you know. And as far as dark creatures go, Remus is a werewolf, and they are dark creatures, too, Harry. I don't see you discriminating against him!"

"Well of course not, 'Mione. He's my friend, he was my father's friend. He's not evil."

"Chances are, neither is Professor Burgess!" she shouted, sick of his attitude.

"I was right about Snape, wasn't I?" he screamed back at an even louder volume, drawing the attention of the entire Gryffindor common room, before storming out, carrying only his wand, with a single tear running down his cheek.

Hermione also stormed, but in her case, it was up the stairs to the girls dorm.

Back in the forest, they had been trying to convince the council of the elves that it was in their best interests to send an elven healer back with the girls. After they finally had everybody convinced, they started back, and Chelli went to call her mom on her cell phone to tell her she was coming to pick some things up from home, but burst into tears when she found that it didn't work. The healer elf being sent back with them was named Keebler, and as soon as Luna saw Hollie's mouth about to open, she shook her head.

"No, Hollie…you can't ask him for a cookie." The girl pouted, and replied, "But I'm hungry….I haven't had anything to eat in like, twenty minutes! What about breakfast!"

"We already had breakfast!" the daywalker replied.

"Well, what about second breakfast?" Hollie asked, giggling a little at the reference to Lord of the Rings.

Almost three hours later, they had reached the castle, after making a unanimous decision to summon their belongings or transfigure them as needed rather than putting off getting to Brittany for any longer. As they approached the entry to the castle proper, Fred walked up, surprised to see them back so soon. When he saw the tear tracks on Chelli's cheeks (she had continued crying over her cell phone for the better part of the journey back to the castle), and saw the expression on her face, his own normally happy face fell in sorrow.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, sounding very concerned, even though this was only his first opportunity to have a conversation with the girl he had liked since he first set eyes on her.

"My cell phone doesn't work…like you even know what that is…"she mumbled, before going back to her crying. Fred grinned, drawing everyone else's attention given how out of place that facial expression was given that he had been concerned just a few seconds before.

"I can fix that, ya know," he whispered conspiratorially, and she looked up shyly.

"Ya mean it?" she asked, her voice pausing in the middle of the sentence to let out a half-hearted sob.

"Yeah. Here's the spell."

She smiled, and the teary eyes changed to happy ones as she hugged the Weasley twin enthusiastically, placing a light kiss on his cheek without even realizing the effect this might have on him. Fred blushed as Chelli and the others ran off, heading towards the hospital wing to get Keebler to Brittany.