A/N - Hi. *embarrassed look* It's all Jenni's fault. Seriously. If I
had had MY way... this chapter would have... Awww, who am I kidding.
Basically, as I explained in the NOT real chapter 18, we've been insanely
busy. Working girls, we are. BUT, we decided that you'd probably be MUCH
happier to get a short-ish chapter than to wait another week for us to
finish it. SO, here you go. And now, over to Jenni for the THANK YOUS!!
:)
Ok, well, hmmmm. Jenni is shaking her head at me. It appears that you get me for the thank yous TOO. Lucky you. :)
Zoe - HEY. Watch who you're calling Stupid!! *grins sheepishly* I may BE stupid but you don't have to CALL me that. And there will be no things purple. NONE. So there.
Ellie - forgot ALL about this one, didn't you? :P Yes, well, you know me and my fantabulous work ethic. And we were wondering WHICH redheads you were talking about... scarily enough, the two that popped into our heads were Fred and George, and the whipped cream was NOT doing what you intended it too. ;) I know you're going to read into that, and I can't do a thing about it.
Carrie - WITHOUT the corniness???? AWWWWWW! Thank you. That means LOTS. Enjoy this part. :D
Margaret - Ok, so we OBVIOUSLY didn't earn our sundaes. But, can we try again?? THIS time if we post soon, you give us cyber sundaes? :)
Melissa - *waves* Hi! Devastating? That's a great word... rolls right off the tongue. Hehehe. Well, read on.
Heather - Wow... hmm. Well, we ARE sorry it took so long. We'd never abandon this without telling you guys... but on that note, some months we're just going to have trouble. That's the pain part of growing up, so much less time. So, while I appreciate your encouragement, complaints don't work nearly as well as silliness. ;) When people make me laugh it puts me in the writing mood.
Littlewolf - OH dear. Now I feel bad. We've left you with your hands clapped to your mouth for over a MONTH. *blush* Here... let me fix that, you just go ahead and read this one. ;)
Louisa -- *HUGS* Haven't seen you in a looong time! Miss you! And LOL - women in control! :D You could say that...
Ronspawn - EEEEEK! NO NO! Nancy WANTS him, she just... *realizes that she was so worried about the Charlie hugging that she almost TOLD* Erf. Well, read on. ;)
Christine - I liked the way you said that - "they're too good for this fight." Thank you for that. :) I hope you enjoy this one.
Suzanne - thanks for the multiple reviews. It's sweet of you to remind us that you're waiting! :) Hope you enjoy this...
Lily - ok, so, this time... I'm expecting something like "YOU GUYS, I can't BELIEVE it took you a month and a half to write that..." LOL. Oh, go read already.
Gohansfollower - YAY for muddled! Muddled makes the story go! I think. Or it just makes Nancy and Charlie really unhappy... hmmmm.
Psiana -- *gasp* They WOULDN'T... not on MY bed?? OH dear, Nancy and Jenni are going to have to have a talk. *jenni glares over at us* hmmm... I could be wrong, but I don't think that the JB team is quite THAT... well... yeah. Not yet. ;) And LOL - pre-pubescent voice cracking! Ooh, Charlie, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just funny phrasing... oh NOW look what you've done.
Karen - it's ok! Real life messed with us on this one. And well... it's not that I'm the only one who CAN... it's more like, I'm the only one MOTIVATED ENOUGH to... hmm, why is Jenni glaring at me?
Ayesha97 - HI! I'm sorry, again. I'm glad it's ours you're addicted to, though!! :D Hope you enjoy!
Bella Black, Jessa - ALOHA! *NEW READER ALERT siren goes off* eeeeek! TURN THAT THING OFF! *high pitched whistling sound continues* Darn it. OH well... we have to enchant that to sing a welcome song or something. :) Did you get chapter five working, Jessa?
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Jenni set her notes down on the table and stared across the room at Nancy, who was buried in "Hogwarts, A History" doing some sideline research on the past Potions professors at Hogwarts. It had been three days since she and Bill had opened that door and found Nancy curled up on the floor by the stove, crying - and Nancy still had told her NOTHING about the fight. Jenni was sure it had been a doozy, judging by the emotional state of the participants and the shattered soap dish in the bathroom.
She hadn't seen Charlie since she'd gone into that bedroom with Nancy to work on the article. He'd been long gone when she and Bill had emerged, and Bill told her that he was sulking around the Burrow silently, adamant about not "crawling back." His version of events, if Bill was to be believed, began with a bitter laugh, contained a few expletives and ended with a, "So she's not talking about it, eh?"
Nancy shifted uncomfortably, stubbornly ignoring the intense stare. She had been reading and rereading the same page for the last half an hour. She was sure it had something to do with Potions... maybe nothing that she needed for the article, but as long as she could pretend to be busy, Jenni was leaving her alone. Although, she just kept staring worriedly, darn her. Sighing, Nancy made a big show of turning the page.
The illustration on the next page showed a bubbling flask slowly turning from bright red... almost the color of Ch- no, BILL'S hair, Nancy noticed. As she watched, the red faded to a light purple and then kept on darkening. Interested, she guessed that it would wind up being black, one of the more common darkening potions, perhaps.
But no, it stopped just as it reached the achingly beautiful deep dark blue of his eyes.
With a frustrated groan, Nancy slammed the book shut and tossed it to the couch. She had gone over and over the fight in her head, hoping to find justification, or just trying to understand why she had pushed and pushed him away... and why he had let her. None of it made any sense, and she was stubbornly resisting the little corner of her heart that urged her to just go and apologize. Honestly, it wasn't as though... well, neither one of them had really left that option open, had they?
Her mood souring even further, Nancy shoved the memory of those midnight eyes looking at her with such anger aside and turned to pick her book back up. She found it sitting on Jenni's lap. Jenni seemed to be sitting on the couch, glaring at her.
"You didn't tell me you wanted to come over here, I would've helped you," Nancy said, glaring right back. "You're HURT, you have to stop acting like..."
"Like WHAT? Like it's been a few days? Like I'm a witch who knows her basic healing?" Jenni took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "I'm FINE now. While YOU are obviously not..."
Nancy glowered and reached for "Hogwarts, a History." Jenni held it out of her reach. "You tell me what you were just researching, and I'll give it back."
"What is this, second year?" Jenni didn't look amused. "Fine... I was, it was a page on... er... darkening potions," Nancy stated with as much authority as she could muster while trying NOT to think of that deep blue. Damn Blue Eyes didn't know when to leave well enough alone, anyway.
Jenni glanced down at the page that she'd marked with a finger. The potion was still pictured, and it was true that the color darkened, but any decent potions student would know right away that she was looking at the first stage of a veritaserum potion. Of course, Nancy had never been a spectacular potions student.
"As I thought, you're utterly full of it." Rolling her eyes as Nancy glowered, Jenni laid the book down on the floor and sat up straight. "Now, since you don't get that back... TALK to me!"
There was a moment of silence as Nancy stared at the piece of sofa thread that she was slowly unraveling to relieve tension. Struck with inspiration, she looked up, meeting Jenni's gaze squarely.
"Ok, FINE. You want me to talk? How's this. what is Severus Snape's middle name?"
"That's not what I meant, and you-"
"WRONG. He doesn't HAVE a middle name. Just Severus and Snape. We try again."
"Nancy..."
"Where did Professor Snape meet his soon-to-be wife?"
"I don't remember, it's in that pile of notes over there. But seriously, I'm worried about..."
"The deadline? Good, good... I'd started to think that you were really going to let me do all the legwork here. I mean, ACCIO NOTES." Nancy reached out a hand and caught the neat pile that flew to her from the table. "We can't exactly profile their marriage without telling how they MET."
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A few hours later, Jenni sat staring at her blank piece of parchment. Nancy had stonewalled her attempts at friend to friend communication, and insisted that they work non-stop on their article so that it would be finished early. Unfortunately, Jenni was tired and not having any more luck at writing than she was at getting her best friend to talk. Shaking her head, Jenni stood up to get something to drink.
"Where are you going?" Nancy looked up and broke the silence as Jenni headed towards the kitchen.
"I just want some juice." Jenni had to fight back annoyance. Both Nancy and Bill had been insufferably helpful, not letting her out of their sight for the last few days, and she was really missing the peace and quiet of her own apartment.
Nancy jumped up from where she was sitting. "I'll get it for you. If you're not up for writing, you really should be resting."
"I've been resting for THREE DAYS, Nancy, and just working one afternoon. I think I can get my own juice. At least if Charlie were here, he'd make a joke about it." Jenni stopped abruptly. The look on Nancy's face made it perfectly clear that she had said the wrong thing.
Slamming the glass that she had just grabbed from the cabinet onto the counter, Nancy grit her teeth. "Well I'm sorry I'm not as funny as CHARLIE!" There was a short pause and Nancy spun, leaving the glass where it was and heading to her room. "Maybe you should get your own juice."
Jenni sighed, she hadn't meant for the comment to sound as an insult. "Nancy wait." She reached for Nancy as she passed. "Look, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." Nancy shrugged off Jenni's hand. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go work on my sense of humor."
Jenni sank back down onto the couch as the door slammed.
Twenty minutes later, Jenni had given up on trying to talk to Nancy. It was obvious that she wasn't coming out of the room any time soon. "May as well go get that juice now," Jenni said out loud to no one in particular.
Taking her glass back to the couch she stopped and looked around. Small reminders of the attack suddenly caught her eye. There were quite a few scratches across the floor, and a few small chunks taken out of the wall from pieces of furniture. Jenni shuddered as flashbacks from that day played through her mind. Determined to push those memories out of her head completely, Jenni settled on something other than her carefully written notes to occupy her time.
An hour later, Nancy still had not emerged from the bedroom and Jenni was starting on the kitchen after managing to clear away the clutter from every other room except the one that Nancy was barricaded inside. The small bathroom had been the worst - bits of broken soap dish had found their way into every crack and corner.
While she was scrubbing the last of the dishes from breakfast, Jenni's stomach gave a loud rumble. Remembering the spaghetti she had begun to make the other day, Jenni figured that the ingredients were all still somewhere in the apartment. She gave one guilty look to the article left unfinished on the couch, but her stomach protested with another loud growl. "Well, that does it. My stomach and I agree that food comes first."
It felt good to do something as basic and normal as making spaghetti, and Jenni found herself humming and hoping that Nancy would accept dinner as an apology for earlier. Not that cooking was EASY. She kept almost burning the food because every time that Jenni tried to find things like salt or the strainer in Nancy's kitchen it was in the wrong place. Reminding herself to NEVER let a Weasley help neaten HER apartment after a disaster, Jenni noticed that the sauce was bubbling and reached to stir it.
"ACK! No spoon... ok ok, I can find this..."
Five minutes later, the heat turned ALL the way down, Jenni felt trapped in a really bad muggle game show as she scoured the kitchen for a spoon big enough.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what do we have in drawer number one?" Jenni's voice echoed in the small kitchen. "AH, yes. A lovely set of kitchen knives, all mix matched to compliment any kitchen décor. And in drawer number two we have dish towels. A charming set given to Nancy by her good friend Jenni. And finally, in drawer number three."
Jenni pulled the drawer open and found several crumbled pieces of parchment that had been hastily shoved in. Her curiosity getting the better of her she slowly straightened out the papers.
As she studied them, she noticed that one contained a list of ingredients. The second was a list of names. Some were scratched out, others circled, a few with notes scribbled in Nancy's handwriting. Jenni stared at the parchment with the names. Nothing looked familiar.
Flipping back to the list of ingredients Jenni went numb. This was a list of ingredients for the obsolete potion that Nancy had been trying to make only weeks ago. A cold fear settled in her stomach as she decided to research the names on the parchment. She was beginning to form a theory and she hoped it was wrong.
Jenni searched the living room until she found a copy of The Ministry Book of Wizarding Companies. Several places on the parchment she found listed as being in Diagon Alley, but there were some that Jenni had never heard of before. She slowly skimmed the pages looking for the names that Nancy had written down. She felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes stopped on one listed in Knockturn Alley.
What the hell was Nancy doing with an address to an Apothecary on Knockturn Alley? Had she really been that desperate to find a way to obtain ingredients for an illegal potion? Jenni sighed heavily. Knowing Nancy, she was more desperate to prove that she was able to handle the situation. Unfortunately her way of handling things tended to land her in loads of trouble, and Knockturn Alley was nothing but trouble.
If Nancy had sent an owl, or any post... Jenni shuddered. Knockturn Alley was full of Death Eaters and Dark Magic, that much she knew from her many years of constant reading. Before befriending Nancy, Jenni spent all of her free time in the Hogwarts Library and one of the books she read was "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts." That one book had more information than she had wanted to learn. But if Nancy had sent an owl, the owner had to have a return address, and could very well have been the... person who had been lying in wait just a few days ago. Forgetting all about the spaghetti cooking on the stove, Jenni raced out of the apartment. What had Nancy gotten herself into?
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Charlie stood in front of the door to Nancy's flat, glaring so hard at it that he half expected it to combust in front of his eyes. He didn't want to be here. His mother had finally gotten sick of him stomping around the Burrow and come down this morning with a "mission" for him.
"Charlie Weasley, this is VERY unlike you. Now, whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you seem to think it was, and it was probably your own fault."
"Mum, I really don't want..."
"Hush and listen to your mother." Molly's smile had been steely, and thinking back over the conversation, Charlie still knew that there was really no way he could have gotten himself out of this. "I have something that I need for you to get to Bill. It needs to be HAND-DELIVERED," she added when his glance slid to Errol, lolling around on the kitchen table.
"Fine, make Percy..."
"Percy's at work. No one else can apparate. YOU will get this to Bill."
"Mum, he'll be home in a few hours, can't you just..."
"Charles Weasley! You have not left this house in the last 48 hours! I want no more arguments! Out! Now!"
"FINE. Where is he?" Charlie grumbled as he was shoved out the front door.
"I'm fairly sure he's visiting Jenni Ferguson," his mother had answered, as she clicked the door shut in his suddenly very angry face.
And now he was standing here, with his stomach a lump of lead and a really odd taste in his mouth, trying to burn a hole in her door with his eyes.
He had two options, as he saw them. One was to turn tail and run. If he didn't have the sneaking suspicion that Bill was IN on this with his mother, and would report back if he failed to show, well that would be the obvious choice. But, since he'd peeked into the note his mother had written that was so "urgent" and found only some numbers, he was wagering that Bill knew perfectly well that he was coming.
And so he had option number two. Charlie stared at the door, trying to think of any way to walk through it without having a nervous breakdown. Failing at that, he decided that speed was of the essence, and he would simply walk in, hand it to Bill, and leave.
That is, of course, unless Nancy SAID something...
Shaking his head, he was just reaching for the doorknob when the door flew open.
"Charlie!"
Jenni Ferguson stood there, looked seriously harassed and worried, and in a hurry to be somewhere. Peering around her, Charlie saw that the rest of the apartment was empty. No Bill. No Nancy.
Jenni's mind was racing - Charlie! He might know... or at least... maybe he could tell her that she wasn't crazy. It was better than her original plan, which had consisted of going to Gringotts and asking around for Bill.
With a sigh, Charlie decided he'd better at least try to mend his fences with Jenni - she'd probably been hearing enough bad stories about him the last few days.
"You're going out? Feeling better, then?"
"Yes, much better. Great, even..." Jenni avoided looking at the red eyebrow that shot up as Charlie eyed the bruises that she knew were still livid and purple on her face.
"Well, I just..." Charlie started, at the same time that Jenni burst out with, "Listen, I think that..."
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Charlie sighed. "Go ahead."
"I... well, I'm worried about Nancy." Jenni watched him closely for a reaction, and stifled a sigh as she watched his face tighten and his eyes get colder.
"Tell me something I didn't know," Charlie gritted his teeth, holding back some of the nastier comments that had sprung to mind. He'd heard enough of this from Bill... it was all well and good for the two of them to WANT to put Nancy and Charlie back together again, but he'd heard nothing from Nancy herself to make him believe either of them.
"Well... I just, I think she's in some real danger, and I really want..." The look in Charlie's eyes was not encouraging, and Jenni faltered.
"And you've told HER, and she's agreed with you, of course?"
"No... no, I haven't brought up this new-"
"Jenni. There's no way to help Nancy until Nancy agrees that there's a problem." There was an awkward silence, as Jenni tried to think of some way to get past his hurt exterior and Charlie tried to remember why he was still standing there. He shut his eyes as he leaned back against the door frame, fighting the instincts that would have him hurry off to wherever the little brunette had gone now and make her sit in a safe, locked room until all risk had passed. But since she would probably transfigure him into a toadstool and eat him as soon as he let her out, Charlie figured he'd stick with the hands-off approach.
"Listen, it's just that, I could really use some support when-"
Charlie's hand found the note that his mother had stuffed in his pocket when she'd shoved him out the door and he straightened abruptly. "Here. This is for Bill, next time you see him." He spun on his heel and started down the hallway. The sound of a foot connecting hard with the wall brought him up short. There was no need to treat Jenni so badly, he chastised himself.
"Jenni," he said softly, "let Nancy fight her own battles. Trust me, she won't thank you for getting yourself or anyone else involved. She'd prefer to go down alone."
Jenni watched him round the corner and heard the soft pop that was him apparating. "But I won't let her, dammit..." she whispered too late.
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A/N - so yeah. Review. If it weren't for all you people who READ this... well, lets just say our NATURAL pace of writing would be MUCH slower. ;)
Ok, well, hmmmm. Jenni is shaking her head at me. It appears that you get me for the thank yous TOO. Lucky you. :)
Zoe - HEY. Watch who you're calling Stupid!! *grins sheepishly* I may BE stupid but you don't have to CALL me that. And there will be no things purple. NONE. So there.
Ellie - forgot ALL about this one, didn't you? :P Yes, well, you know me and my fantabulous work ethic. And we were wondering WHICH redheads you were talking about... scarily enough, the two that popped into our heads were Fred and George, and the whipped cream was NOT doing what you intended it too. ;) I know you're going to read into that, and I can't do a thing about it.
Carrie - WITHOUT the corniness???? AWWWWWW! Thank you. That means LOTS. Enjoy this part. :D
Margaret - Ok, so we OBVIOUSLY didn't earn our sundaes. But, can we try again?? THIS time if we post soon, you give us cyber sundaes? :)
Melissa - *waves* Hi! Devastating? That's a great word... rolls right off the tongue. Hehehe. Well, read on.
Heather - Wow... hmm. Well, we ARE sorry it took so long. We'd never abandon this without telling you guys... but on that note, some months we're just going to have trouble. That's the pain part of growing up, so much less time. So, while I appreciate your encouragement, complaints don't work nearly as well as silliness. ;) When people make me laugh it puts me in the writing mood.
Littlewolf - OH dear. Now I feel bad. We've left you with your hands clapped to your mouth for over a MONTH. *blush* Here... let me fix that, you just go ahead and read this one. ;)
Louisa -- *HUGS* Haven't seen you in a looong time! Miss you! And LOL - women in control! :D You could say that...
Ronspawn - EEEEEK! NO NO! Nancy WANTS him, she just... *realizes that she was so worried about the Charlie hugging that she almost TOLD* Erf. Well, read on. ;)
Christine - I liked the way you said that - "they're too good for this fight." Thank you for that. :) I hope you enjoy this one.
Suzanne - thanks for the multiple reviews. It's sweet of you to remind us that you're waiting! :) Hope you enjoy this...
Lily - ok, so, this time... I'm expecting something like "YOU GUYS, I can't BELIEVE it took you a month and a half to write that..." LOL. Oh, go read already.
Gohansfollower - YAY for muddled! Muddled makes the story go! I think. Or it just makes Nancy and Charlie really unhappy... hmmmm.
Psiana -- *gasp* They WOULDN'T... not on MY bed?? OH dear, Nancy and Jenni are going to have to have a talk. *jenni glares over at us* hmmm... I could be wrong, but I don't think that the JB team is quite THAT... well... yeah. Not yet. ;) And LOL - pre-pubescent voice cracking! Ooh, Charlie, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just funny phrasing... oh NOW look what you've done.
Karen - it's ok! Real life messed with us on this one. And well... it's not that I'm the only one who CAN... it's more like, I'm the only one MOTIVATED ENOUGH to... hmm, why is Jenni glaring at me?
Ayesha97 - HI! I'm sorry, again. I'm glad it's ours you're addicted to, though!! :D Hope you enjoy!
Bella Black, Jessa - ALOHA! *NEW READER ALERT siren goes off* eeeeek! TURN THAT THING OFF! *high pitched whistling sound continues* Darn it. OH well... we have to enchant that to sing a welcome song or something. :) Did you get chapter five working, Jessa?
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Jenni set her notes down on the table and stared across the room at Nancy, who was buried in "Hogwarts, A History" doing some sideline research on the past Potions professors at Hogwarts. It had been three days since she and Bill had opened that door and found Nancy curled up on the floor by the stove, crying - and Nancy still had told her NOTHING about the fight. Jenni was sure it had been a doozy, judging by the emotional state of the participants and the shattered soap dish in the bathroom.
She hadn't seen Charlie since she'd gone into that bedroom with Nancy to work on the article. He'd been long gone when she and Bill had emerged, and Bill told her that he was sulking around the Burrow silently, adamant about not "crawling back." His version of events, if Bill was to be believed, began with a bitter laugh, contained a few expletives and ended with a, "So she's not talking about it, eh?"
Nancy shifted uncomfortably, stubbornly ignoring the intense stare. She had been reading and rereading the same page for the last half an hour. She was sure it had something to do with Potions... maybe nothing that she needed for the article, but as long as she could pretend to be busy, Jenni was leaving her alone. Although, she just kept staring worriedly, darn her. Sighing, Nancy made a big show of turning the page.
The illustration on the next page showed a bubbling flask slowly turning from bright red... almost the color of Ch- no, BILL'S hair, Nancy noticed. As she watched, the red faded to a light purple and then kept on darkening. Interested, she guessed that it would wind up being black, one of the more common darkening potions, perhaps.
But no, it stopped just as it reached the achingly beautiful deep dark blue of his eyes.
With a frustrated groan, Nancy slammed the book shut and tossed it to the couch. She had gone over and over the fight in her head, hoping to find justification, or just trying to understand why she had pushed and pushed him away... and why he had let her. None of it made any sense, and she was stubbornly resisting the little corner of her heart that urged her to just go and apologize. Honestly, it wasn't as though... well, neither one of them had really left that option open, had they?
Her mood souring even further, Nancy shoved the memory of those midnight eyes looking at her with such anger aside and turned to pick her book back up. She found it sitting on Jenni's lap. Jenni seemed to be sitting on the couch, glaring at her.
"You didn't tell me you wanted to come over here, I would've helped you," Nancy said, glaring right back. "You're HURT, you have to stop acting like..."
"Like WHAT? Like it's been a few days? Like I'm a witch who knows her basic healing?" Jenni took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "I'm FINE now. While YOU are obviously not..."
Nancy glowered and reached for "Hogwarts, a History." Jenni held it out of her reach. "You tell me what you were just researching, and I'll give it back."
"What is this, second year?" Jenni didn't look amused. "Fine... I was, it was a page on... er... darkening potions," Nancy stated with as much authority as she could muster while trying NOT to think of that deep blue. Damn Blue Eyes didn't know when to leave well enough alone, anyway.
Jenni glanced down at the page that she'd marked with a finger. The potion was still pictured, and it was true that the color darkened, but any decent potions student would know right away that she was looking at the first stage of a veritaserum potion. Of course, Nancy had never been a spectacular potions student.
"As I thought, you're utterly full of it." Rolling her eyes as Nancy glowered, Jenni laid the book down on the floor and sat up straight. "Now, since you don't get that back... TALK to me!"
There was a moment of silence as Nancy stared at the piece of sofa thread that she was slowly unraveling to relieve tension. Struck with inspiration, she looked up, meeting Jenni's gaze squarely.
"Ok, FINE. You want me to talk? How's this. what is Severus Snape's middle name?"
"That's not what I meant, and you-"
"WRONG. He doesn't HAVE a middle name. Just Severus and Snape. We try again."
"Nancy..."
"Where did Professor Snape meet his soon-to-be wife?"
"I don't remember, it's in that pile of notes over there. But seriously, I'm worried about..."
"The deadline? Good, good... I'd started to think that you were really going to let me do all the legwork here. I mean, ACCIO NOTES." Nancy reached out a hand and caught the neat pile that flew to her from the table. "We can't exactly profile their marriage without telling how they MET."
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A few hours later, Jenni sat staring at her blank piece of parchment. Nancy had stonewalled her attempts at friend to friend communication, and insisted that they work non-stop on their article so that it would be finished early. Unfortunately, Jenni was tired and not having any more luck at writing than she was at getting her best friend to talk. Shaking her head, Jenni stood up to get something to drink.
"Where are you going?" Nancy looked up and broke the silence as Jenni headed towards the kitchen.
"I just want some juice." Jenni had to fight back annoyance. Both Nancy and Bill had been insufferably helpful, not letting her out of their sight for the last few days, and she was really missing the peace and quiet of her own apartment.
Nancy jumped up from where she was sitting. "I'll get it for you. If you're not up for writing, you really should be resting."
"I've been resting for THREE DAYS, Nancy, and just working one afternoon. I think I can get my own juice. At least if Charlie were here, he'd make a joke about it." Jenni stopped abruptly. The look on Nancy's face made it perfectly clear that she had said the wrong thing.
Slamming the glass that she had just grabbed from the cabinet onto the counter, Nancy grit her teeth. "Well I'm sorry I'm not as funny as CHARLIE!" There was a short pause and Nancy spun, leaving the glass where it was and heading to her room. "Maybe you should get your own juice."
Jenni sighed, she hadn't meant for the comment to sound as an insult. "Nancy wait." She reached for Nancy as she passed. "Look, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." Nancy shrugged off Jenni's hand. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go work on my sense of humor."
Jenni sank back down onto the couch as the door slammed.
Twenty minutes later, Jenni had given up on trying to talk to Nancy. It was obvious that she wasn't coming out of the room any time soon. "May as well go get that juice now," Jenni said out loud to no one in particular.
Taking her glass back to the couch she stopped and looked around. Small reminders of the attack suddenly caught her eye. There were quite a few scratches across the floor, and a few small chunks taken out of the wall from pieces of furniture. Jenni shuddered as flashbacks from that day played through her mind. Determined to push those memories out of her head completely, Jenni settled on something other than her carefully written notes to occupy her time.
An hour later, Nancy still had not emerged from the bedroom and Jenni was starting on the kitchen after managing to clear away the clutter from every other room except the one that Nancy was barricaded inside. The small bathroom had been the worst - bits of broken soap dish had found their way into every crack and corner.
While she was scrubbing the last of the dishes from breakfast, Jenni's stomach gave a loud rumble. Remembering the spaghetti she had begun to make the other day, Jenni figured that the ingredients were all still somewhere in the apartment. She gave one guilty look to the article left unfinished on the couch, but her stomach protested with another loud growl. "Well, that does it. My stomach and I agree that food comes first."
It felt good to do something as basic and normal as making spaghetti, and Jenni found herself humming and hoping that Nancy would accept dinner as an apology for earlier. Not that cooking was EASY. She kept almost burning the food because every time that Jenni tried to find things like salt or the strainer in Nancy's kitchen it was in the wrong place. Reminding herself to NEVER let a Weasley help neaten HER apartment after a disaster, Jenni noticed that the sauce was bubbling and reached to stir it.
"ACK! No spoon... ok ok, I can find this..."
Five minutes later, the heat turned ALL the way down, Jenni felt trapped in a really bad muggle game show as she scoured the kitchen for a spoon big enough.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what do we have in drawer number one?" Jenni's voice echoed in the small kitchen. "AH, yes. A lovely set of kitchen knives, all mix matched to compliment any kitchen décor. And in drawer number two we have dish towels. A charming set given to Nancy by her good friend Jenni. And finally, in drawer number three."
Jenni pulled the drawer open and found several crumbled pieces of parchment that had been hastily shoved in. Her curiosity getting the better of her she slowly straightened out the papers.
As she studied them, she noticed that one contained a list of ingredients. The second was a list of names. Some were scratched out, others circled, a few with notes scribbled in Nancy's handwriting. Jenni stared at the parchment with the names. Nothing looked familiar.
Flipping back to the list of ingredients Jenni went numb. This was a list of ingredients for the obsolete potion that Nancy had been trying to make only weeks ago. A cold fear settled in her stomach as she decided to research the names on the parchment. She was beginning to form a theory and she hoped it was wrong.
Jenni searched the living room until she found a copy of The Ministry Book of Wizarding Companies. Several places on the parchment she found listed as being in Diagon Alley, but there were some that Jenni had never heard of before. She slowly skimmed the pages looking for the names that Nancy had written down. She felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes stopped on one listed in Knockturn Alley.
What the hell was Nancy doing with an address to an Apothecary on Knockturn Alley? Had she really been that desperate to find a way to obtain ingredients for an illegal potion? Jenni sighed heavily. Knowing Nancy, she was more desperate to prove that she was able to handle the situation. Unfortunately her way of handling things tended to land her in loads of trouble, and Knockturn Alley was nothing but trouble.
If Nancy had sent an owl, or any post... Jenni shuddered. Knockturn Alley was full of Death Eaters and Dark Magic, that much she knew from her many years of constant reading. Before befriending Nancy, Jenni spent all of her free time in the Hogwarts Library and one of the books she read was "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts." That one book had more information than she had wanted to learn. But if Nancy had sent an owl, the owner had to have a return address, and could very well have been the... person who had been lying in wait just a few days ago. Forgetting all about the spaghetti cooking on the stove, Jenni raced out of the apartment. What had Nancy gotten herself into?
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Charlie stood in front of the door to Nancy's flat, glaring so hard at it that he half expected it to combust in front of his eyes. He didn't want to be here. His mother had finally gotten sick of him stomping around the Burrow and come down this morning with a "mission" for him.
"Charlie Weasley, this is VERY unlike you. Now, whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you seem to think it was, and it was probably your own fault."
"Mum, I really don't want..."
"Hush and listen to your mother." Molly's smile had been steely, and thinking back over the conversation, Charlie still knew that there was really no way he could have gotten himself out of this. "I have something that I need for you to get to Bill. It needs to be HAND-DELIVERED," she added when his glance slid to Errol, lolling around on the kitchen table.
"Fine, make Percy..."
"Percy's at work. No one else can apparate. YOU will get this to Bill."
"Mum, he'll be home in a few hours, can't you just..."
"Charles Weasley! You have not left this house in the last 48 hours! I want no more arguments! Out! Now!"
"FINE. Where is he?" Charlie grumbled as he was shoved out the front door.
"I'm fairly sure he's visiting Jenni Ferguson," his mother had answered, as she clicked the door shut in his suddenly very angry face.
And now he was standing here, with his stomach a lump of lead and a really odd taste in his mouth, trying to burn a hole in her door with his eyes.
He had two options, as he saw them. One was to turn tail and run. If he didn't have the sneaking suspicion that Bill was IN on this with his mother, and would report back if he failed to show, well that would be the obvious choice. But, since he'd peeked into the note his mother had written that was so "urgent" and found only some numbers, he was wagering that Bill knew perfectly well that he was coming.
And so he had option number two. Charlie stared at the door, trying to think of any way to walk through it without having a nervous breakdown. Failing at that, he decided that speed was of the essence, and he would simply walk in, hand it to Bill, and leave.
That is, of course, unless Nancy SAID something...
Shaking his head, he was just reaching for the doorknob when the door flew open.
"Charlie!"
Jenni Ferguson stood there, looked seriously harassed and worried, and in a hurry to be somewhere. Peering around her, Charlie saw that the rest of the apartment was empty. No Bill. No Nancy.
Jenni's mind was racing - Charlie! He might know... or at least... maybe he could tell her that she wasn't crazy. It was better than her original plan, which had consisted of going to Gringotts and asking around for Bill.
With a sigh, Charlie decided he'd better at least try to mend his fences with Jenni - she'd probably been hearing enough bad stories about him the last few days.
"You're going out? Feeling better, then?"
"Yes, much better. Great, even..." Jenni avoided looking at the red eyebrow that shot up as Charlie eyed the bruises that she knew were still livid and purple on her face.
"Well, I just..." Charlie started, at the same time that Jenni burst out with, "Listen, I think that..."
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Charlie sighed. "Go ahead."
"I... well, I'm worried about Nancy." Jenni watched him closely for a reaction, and stifled a sigh as she watched his face tighten and his eyes get colder.
"Tell me something I didn't know," Charlie gritted his teeth, holding back some of the nastier comments that had sprung to mind. He'd heard enough of this from Bill... it was all well and good for the two of them to WANT to put Nancy and Charlie back together again, but he'd heard nothing from Nancy herself to make him believe either of them.
"Well... I just, I think she's in some real danger, and I really want..." The look in Charlie's eyes was not encouraging, and Jenni faltered.
"And you've told HER, and she's agreed with you, of course?"
"No... no, I haven't brought up this new-"
"Jenni. There's no way to help Nancy until Nancy agrees that there's a problem." There was an awkward silence, as Jenni tried to think of some way to get past his hurt exterior and Charlie tried to remember why he was still standing there. He shut his eyes as he leaned back against the door frame, fighting the instincts that would have him hurry off to wherever the little brunette had gone now and make her sit in a safe, locked room until all risk had passed. But since she would probably transfigure him into a toadstool and eat him as soon as he let her out, Charlie figured he'd stick with the hands-off approach.
"Listen, it's just that, I could really use some support when-"
Charlie's hand found the note that his mother had stuffed in his pocket when she'd shoved him out the door and he straightened abruptly. "Here. This is for Bill, next time you see him." He spun on his heel and started down the hallway. The sound of a foot connecting hard with the wall brought him up short. There was no need to treat Jenni so badly, he chastised himself.
"Jenni," he said softly, "let Nancy fight her own battles. Trust me, she won't thank you for getting yourself or anyone else involved. She'd prefer to go down alone."
Jenni watched him round the corner and heard the soft pop that was him apparating. "But I won't let her, dammit..." she whispered too late.
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A/N - so yeah. Review. If it weren't for all you people who READ this... well, lets just say our NATURAL pace of writing would be MUCH slower. ;)