Title: The Will Of Love

Part: 4/7

Author: Jmaria

Rating: R

Disclaimers: Mine? I think not. I'll return them as good as new. (Or in even better condition than their real owners left them.)

Spoilers: Season Five: A Hole in the World for Angel, OotP for Harry

Summary: Why hatred runs so deep. . .

A/N: Ok, I know that the characters are a teensy bit OOC. And It was horribly evil of me to end it there, but I'm a little stressed and only get an hour or so a night to write this out. I have less than five days to finish two other fics and I sat on that last chapter for like three weeks. Plus I'm judging at an award site that has to have that before I leave as well. PLUS it's finals week for me. And right now I should be looking at more nudes (Art History) and engraving the dates they were made into my head. Plus dealing with my roommate breaking up and making up with her boyfriend at five in the morning. Very loudly and on speakerphone. Let's just say I'm super stressed.

A/N 2: Been a while since I posted anything or much of anything. But I couldn't find the time or the motivation to write much for this story. Especially considering I got a review from someone telling me how they couldn't wait until Illiryia (sp?) showed up and killed or kicked everyone's ass. Obviously, they didn't read the part where this was me going against what happened in season five of Angel concerning Fred and Wes.

Part Four

Wes gave a small chuckle. He didn't want to, but he ended up doing so anyway. Fred was getting weaker and he was trying to explain his convoluted and detailed relationship with his elder half brother to the son of one of his closest acquaintances he'd made at Hogwarts.

And once again, it was all over a girl and their father. The group stared at him like he'd completely lost it. He hadn't of course. He knew what they wanted to hear. So he took another deep breath and began his tale.

"It started in my fourth year, here at Hogwarts. That was also Severus' seventh year. It involved a lovely witch, and . . ."

"Lily Evans?" Hermione asked.

"No. James had claimed her as his long ago. Oddly enough, we both knew Lily was never in our league. For me, it was mostly my age. And for Sev, it was simply that he wasn't James." Wesley sighed softly. "No, the witch was a young Ravenclaw girl, fifteen, so in both our ranges. As a Slytherin, the only other house acceptable to date was Ravenclaw. A little less discerning, but opened up your options. There were some very unpleasant looking female Slytherins. I do recall Melfinia Constrey was eager to be Severus' wife. Ugly woman, ended up engaged to Bulstrode, by the end of the term." He paused for a moment, taking in the small shudder that went through the young red-head and continued. "I'll assume you're acquainted with Bulstrode's offspring, then?"

"Millicent Bulstrode. She's not the handsomest girl in the world." Hermione stated.

"Where was I - oh, yes. Sev and I were on rocky terms after a specific incident with Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter that I helped Sirius to set up." Wesley acknowledged the small glint of recognition in Harry's eyes. He took a deep breath. "But as I said, the worst thing I could have ever done, was make a fool of him. Sev clings very tightly to his pride and his confidence in his actions. Perhaps his life would be very different from the one he leads now, had I not made an ass out of him. I'd imagine many things in his life would be different, had I not betrayed him that way." He smiled softly. "Her name was Caroline Weston. She was a lovely girl with corn silk blonde hair, and eyes that were so very welcoming. . . "

Wesley hadn't started noticing girls until the end of his third year, when Polly Diggle had kissed him on a dare at the last Quidditch match of the term. He'd blushed horribly, and had been ribbed constantly by Sirius and occasionally Regulus, Sirius' younger brother who would occasionally study with Wesley. Reggie understood what it was like, to have one's family be torn asunder. Sirius no longer lived at home, and Regulus, who'd always idolized Sirius, found himself being bullied by his parents to sever all ties with his miscreant elder brother.

Polly Diggle was the first girl to ever kiss him, and he would only be kissed by one other girl while he was attending Hogwarts. So very sure of his manly prowess, Wesley was a tad bit overconfident when he attempted to kiss Selena Wood. That had not gone well, especially since the Gryffindor beater had sent him to the hospital wing.

Incidentally, that had been when he'd met Caroline Weston. The Ravenclaw prefect had been hexed by a fifth year Slytherin when she threatened to report him for bullying some Hufflepuff fourth years. None other than the Seventh year Slytherin prefect Severus Snape, had come to her aid.

"Sev? What're you doing in here?" Wesley asked over his rapidly swelling lower lip, when he raced into the infirmary.

"The name is Snape, Wyndam-Pryce. And I don't believe that is any of your concern." Sev snapped, brushing lint off of his robes.

"Hullo, Wesley." Caroline peeked around Sev. Her large blue eyes looked up almost . . . dreamily at Severus. Wesley would later look back on that day and knew he should have realized that she had a crush on Severus.

"Hullo Caroline. What happened?"

"Jelly legs jinx. Could have been worse, had Severus not shown up." The Ravenclaw smiled brightly up at Severus. "Professor Binns spoke of your father today, Wesley. And all of the good work he's done with the Council. I'd imagine that you've actually met a slayer?" Severus' nostrils flared at the mention of their father.

"Erm, well, yes. Once or twice. I was rather young when she passed on."

"We were covering the History of Hogwarts only slayer, Maleficent Nacslatsyrc, the Bulgarian native who nearly set the castle ablaze when she slaughtered the horde of vampires on the south lawns in the sixteenth century?" Caroline continued on.

"Father often speaks of that, whenever the school letters arrive." Wesley didn't add that Roger always threw in that other than that, Hogwarts was a waste of an institution compared to the Watchers Academy. Severus suddenly excused himself and left the room. Wesley was too busy staring at his brother to notice Caroline's smile falter.

"Well, while you're waiting for the new mediwitch to show up, I suppose you can tell me all about slayers, then?"

The next few hours were spent answering Caroline's consistent flow of questions about slayers and watchers, vampires, demons, and the Council itself.

"Will you be a Watcher like your father, then?"

"No, one must go to a special school for that. . . I opted to go to Hogwarts instead."

"I keep forgetting you're Muggleborn. Not that being part of the Council would be anything completely Muggle, now would it?"

"No, not entirely."

Wesley sighed heavily. The three students were now completely enraptured in the tale of his youth. He had their undivided attention. The doors of the Infirmary opened, and Wesley turned, half hoping to see Severus holding up the miracle cure Fred needed. Instead he found Poppy. He smiled softly at her, and she gave him a wary look.

"Professor Snape says it'll only be a bit longer. Why are you smiling?" She demanded. "I've treated over a dozen ailments of yours, Wyndam-Pryce. You best remember that."

"Oh, he's just telling us about his brother and why he hates him so much." Ron grinned from Harry's side.

"Oh, honestly. That reason is so very obvious. It was over a girl, was it not?" Poppy smiled softly.

"Yes."

They were in the middle of discussing slayers when the new mediwitch followed Madame Mascon, the school nurse, into the room. It was none other than the previous year's Head Girl, Poppy Pomfrey. Caroline had smiled brightly up at the former Hufflepuff.

"Hullo Poppy. I didn't know you were going to become a mediwitch."

"Caro? Whatever did you get yourself into now?" Poppy sighed heavily. Over the last years, Poppy had saved her from hundreds of incidents that would have otherwise gotten Caroline very nearly killed. Including several of her own 'experiments'.

When Wesley learned that she was one of the volunteer Charms tutors, Wesley eagerly signed up for tutoring with her. Over the weeks, he learned that she was horrid in Potions and was being tutored herself, by none other than Severus Snape. Wesley began seeing them all over the school, studying, talking together and actually laughing together. Fewer and fewer people picked on her.

Wesley was jealous. He worked up a plan. A plan that was a last ditch effort at getting Caroline to notice him as more than that boy she was helping in Charms. So he planned on tricking her into kissing him . . . in front of Severus. Naturally, Severus assumed that she was tricking him, just as his brother had years before. He swore to never speak to him again, and turned his attention back to working for the Dark Lord.

Caroline's heart was broken however. And when Wesley tried to fix it, it ended in a clash. Wesley attacked Severus as he was walking down the main corridor. And not just magical attacks, but physical as well. And Wesley, while the younger and weaker of the two, managed to do considerable damage to the older boy.

Wesley was expelled that week and his wand snapped in half, partially because of his behavior, but mainly on his father's command. Severus swore that if either of them ever came near him again, he would kill them. Until several hours ago, Wesley hadn't spoken to any one from Hogwarts.

"What about Caroline?"

"She refused to speak to me. I've no clue what she did with her life. In my mind, she is still that fifteen year old witch."

"Well . . . that explains why you . . . waited so darn long to tell me how you felt." Fred said softly.

"Well, yes. I suppose so."

A blonde haired girl strode into the infirmary then, her eyes wide and her wand tucked behind her ear. She smiled briefly over at the three students before making her way over to Madame Pomfrey.

"They've taken my socks again. I just came to fetch a pair from the stash." She said dreamily.

"Yes, it's over there dear." Poppy sighed heavily. "Evil little gits." She muttered loud enough for Wesley to hear. "As if I didn't scrape her mother out of a million problems, now I have to worry about her. Especially since she joined up with those three last year."

"Her mother?"

"Yes, her mother. The first girl you ever loved."

"Who did Caroline marry?"

"Caro married the Lovegood boy, who was a year older. They had a good marriage. . . "

"Had?"

"Caroline died . . . seven years ago. One of her experiments backfired."

Luna turned to face Made Pomfrey. She gave a smile that Harry had never seen before on the odd Ravenclaw girl. It actually made her quite pretty. For Wesley, it looked like Caroline's smile.