Chapter 17: Issues

Monday morning rolled around, and Kelria found herself once again sitting in her cubicle staring at a blank piece of paper. She had got nowhere with the information she had received from Rob Marsden, and she was starting to wonder if she ever would. As far as she knew, Khyana hadn't gotten much either.

After the previous week's fiasco, James had not asked for another weekly report from anyone, and Kelria was glad. They were annoying to have to write, and she was glad to be rid of them.

Around lunchtime, everyone except James had gathered in the lunchroom, everyone having elected to eat in the office that day. Kelria was fairly surprised when Emily-Hope, usually so quiet, stood up and began to speak.

"Guys, I've been thinking. Don't you think maybe we've been a little rough on James?"

"Meaning what?" Aaron asked.

"Well, just that the thing with the weekly reports was kind of harsh…"

"He set them," Khyana replied with a shrug. "He had it coming."

"But that's just it!" Emily-Hope insisted. "He didn't have it coming! He's the leader in this squad, he can do things like that! And we elected him leader of the squad!"

"That's only because there weren't any other options," Harvey pointed out.

"Exactly!" Emily-Hope exclaimed, starting to get annoyed with her team. "No one else was brave enough to stand up and say, I'll be the leader. James was the only one willing to take on the responsibility. And we haven't really been fair to him. He has the right to assign weekly reports, or anything else he wants to assign to us! We gave him that right!"

"Emily-Hope's right," Khyana spoke up, shocking everyone. "No one else wanted the responsibility. And don't you remember how enthusiastic we all were to have James as our leader? James Potter is one of the best leaders I know, and we need to give him another chance."

"Yana, are you feeling okay?" Frank asked, concerned.

"Yes I am!" Khyana exploded. "James is a good leader! We owe him an apology."

Everyone stared from Khyana to Emily-Hope, and then Khyana stood and left the room. Everyone else followed, eager to see what she was going to do.

"James," she said loudly, approaching his cubicle.

James looked up from his paperwork, saw his whole team standing before him, and looked a little frightened.

"Yes?"

"We want to apologise," Khyana responded. James looked shocked. "We've been real jerks lately. We haven't treated you with the respect you deserve as our leader. So we're sorry."

"Um…apology accepted?" James said, still confused and a little scared.

"Great. Alright, everyone, show's over," Khyana said loudly. "Back to lunch."

Albus Dumbledore was surprised that Monday afternoon by a visit from a former student and very good friend of his. As the Order member (one of the best, being a trained auror) entered, he looked up from his paperwork with a wide grin.

"Good afternoon, Miss Malfoy. How may I help you?"

Khyana looked a little uncomfortable, but Dumbledore motioned for her to sit, and she did, staying perched on the edge of the chair.

"What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked again, rephrasing his question.

"Um…I wanted to talk to you about…the Order."

"Very well. Talk away."

"I want to quit."

Whatever Dumbledore was expecting, this was not it. He sat forward and steepled his fingers on his desktop.

"Are you sure, Khyana?"

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

Khyana took a deep breath. "Because of Snape."

Dumbledore stiffened. "What about Severus?"

"I can't work with him," Khyana replied. "I can't trust him, I know you do, I've heard your spiel before, but I just can't. I can't trust him and I don't want to. I know him too well to ever be able to trust him. And I've heard recent evidence stating that he is still in contact with the Death Eaters, and it's not on your orders either, so don't try to tell me it is. I just can't handle it. And with my auror work on top of it, I just can't handle everything. My illness has been getting out of hand lately, and I've had to cut back on the amount of magic I'm using. No one else knows this, but the only magic I do is apparate, unless it's absolutely necessary. I just can't handle it."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded. "Well, I'm very sorry you feel this way, Khyana, but if you're sure…?"

"I am."

"Well, I will not force you to stay in the Order. You've given this a lot of thought?"

"I've thought of nothing else since he joined," Khyana replied firmly. "I am very sure that this is the best way for me, Professor. I'm sorry."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Do not be sorry for your decision, Khyana. I am sorry to see you go, but this has obviously been bothering you for a long time, and I will cause you no more discomfort. You may go, with my blessing. And good luck in your future endeavours."

"Thank you, Professor."

"And remember, Khyana. If you ever need me, I'm always here."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, Professor."

The next two weeks passed by fairly calmly. When asked why she had missed Tuesday's Order meeting, Khyana had replied that she hadn't been feeling well, and everyone let it go. She was glad, because she wasn't in the mood to be yelled at.

Kelria was glad to see that Sirius and Khyana were slowly making repairs to their relationship. They seemed to be getting along alright, and she had heard no further complaints from Khyana about her boyfriend, so she just left well enough alone.

At the next Order meeting, when Khyana again did not show up, people started to get a little worried.

"Where's Khyana?" Sirius asked Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked a little confused. "She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Khyana has left the Order."

"WHAT?!" ten or eleven people cried from all over the room.

Sirius stood up and left, and no one called him back. However, when Kelria and a few others made to follow, Dumbledore told her to remain seated.

"Why? You let Sirius leave!" Kelria demanded.

"Yes, because I think Sirius might actually be able to do some good in this instance. However, Khyana only needs one person yelling at her right about now, I think. I also think that Sirius will be able to do the most good right now. So you may all speak to her about it tomorrow if you wish."

Those standing sat down again and Dumbledore continued with the meeting.

Sitting in the living room of her house attempting to figure out how to use a television (the newest addition to her ever-growing supply of muggle toys), Khyana was startled by a loud knock on her front door.

"It's open!" she yelled, not wanting to move.

The person opened the door, entered, and slammed the door loudly behind them.

"Someone's angry," Khyana commented, not even bothering to look up to see who her visitor was.

"Damn right I'm angry!" Sirius burst out furiously. "Why the hell did you quit the Order, Khyana Malfoy?"

Khyana shrugged. "I had my reasons."

"Well they better be damn good reasons!"

Khyana sighed and put down her owner's manual. "Yes, I'd say they were good."

"Well, what were they?"

Khyana shrugged again. "Well, for one thing, I can't work with Snape."

"What?! You're giving in? That's letting him win, you know. I don't like working with him, either-"

"No, Sirius. It's not that I don't like working with him. It's that I physically cannot work with him. I can't trust him, and nothing that Dumbledore says is going to change that. He can tell me fifty million times that Snape's changed and blah, blah, blah, but I'm not going to ever change how I feel about him. And I can't work with someone I can't trust. What if I'm assigned to work with him sometime? I have to know that I can trust him, and I can't."

Sirius nodded. "Okay. What's the second thing?"

"What?"

"You said, 'Well, for one thing', so what's the second thing?"

Khyana looked back at her owner's manual, playing with the corners. "Ican'tdomagic," she said quietly.

"What?"

"I can't do magic!" she exclaimed loudly.

"Well, yes, dear, I know that. That's why you take that potion, remember?"

Khyana gave him a scathing glare and said, "No. The potion's not working."

"What do you mean, the potion's not working?"

"The potion's not working! Do I have to spell it out for you?" she screamed, standing in a huff and going into the kitchen.

"I don't understand, Na," Sirius said, following her into the kitchen.

"Neither do I," Khyana answered. "It's just not working."

"But you've been apparating just fine…"

"That's all I can do. You realise, Sirius, that if I get stuck by myself with any amount of Death Eaters, I'm not going to be able to defend myself? That's the main reason I left the Order. If I can't do magic, I'm no good to the Order at all."

"There must be some explanation. Maybe Lily's making it wrong."

"Repeat that statement, Sirius."

"Maybe Lily's making it wrong?"

"How can you say that without realising how ridiculous it sounds? Lily doesn't make things wrong. It's not possible."

"Well then there has to be some other explanation. Maybe you've become immune to the potion."

"I doubt it, Sirius. I don't think it works like that."

"Well, there has to be some explanation!"

"Sirius, that's the third time you've said that! You're going to drive me bonkers soon!"

"Sorry. It just doesn't make sense!"

"I know it doesn't make sense, Sirius! If it made sense, don't you think I'd have found a way to deal with it? Or asked Lily for help?"

Sirius still looked puzzled. "Okay. Well, we'll have to get to the bottom of this. Does Dumbledore have any ideas?"

Khyana shook her head. "Nope."

Sirius didn't look happy. This was not good…

The next day at work, Kelria, James and Frank all came over to demand in whispers why Khyana had quit the Order. She didn't feel like explaining it again and reliving the previous evening with Sirius, but she figured she probably didn't have a choice.

Sure enough, after she'd finished explaining, her three friends started to think of reasons why it might not be working. James shut Frank down quickly when he suggested that maybe Lily was making it wrong, and Frank shut Kelria down when she suggested Khyana might be immune to the potion.

"It just doesn't happen," Frank replied. "I've done a bit of research on it, and it just doesn't happen that way. People do not just become immune to this potion."

"Well, something's not adding up here," Kelria replied thoughtfully. "And I'm going to find out what it is."

In order to discover what it was that wasn't adding up with Khyana, Kelria had to go visit Leanne Thompson. She knew she had to be very careful because Leanne was answering to the Lestranges, and anything she said could put Khyana in danger.

"Hi, Kelria!" Leanne said cheerfully when she answered the door.

"Hi, Leanne, how are you?" Kelria asked, all her senses on alert.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm pretty good. I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"Is there anything in Khyana's medicine that might stop working after a time?"

Leanne looked puzzled. "No. why, has it stopped working?"

Kelria nodded, very wary. Leanne's eyes lit up for a brief second, then quickly went back to normal.

"No, I can't think why that would be," she replied. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"Yes, I'm sure you are," Kelria said sarcastically. "Look, Leanne, we all know you've been Imperiused, so you can stop acting like you haven't been. Why isn't Khyana's potion working?" she demanded.

Leanne looked affronted. "I don't know why her potion isn't working, Kelria. And if you're going to come in here and accuse me of things, you can just leave."

Kelria nodded decisively. "I think I'll do just that."

And she did.

Three days later, Alice found Leanne dead in her house, with a note written on the wall in blood:

If you don't want this to happen again, don't tell us when you know someone's been Imperiused.

A/N: So, Leanne's dead, Alice is devastated...and Christmas is coming! (I know, it's August...but CHRISTMAS IS COMING!)...(It's August in the story, not in real life...)