Chapter 31) Fred's Last Straw

Selected Listening: Grand Theft Autumn (Where is Your Boy?)- Fall Out Boy

A/N: Hello there! I'm so glad we've made it to the home stretch of this book. It definitely hasn't been the easiest to write, and I'm ready to move on to something a little angstier in Book 5. I imagine we'll be all wrapped up by mid-July, but for now, enjoy this chapter. I'll be going out of town the next two weeks, but I'll try to set things up so I can drop a chapter in a week or so to not leave you totally hanging. Till then, cheers!

The first thing Anastasia saw upon entering the Great Hall on the first day of the semester was Pansy Parkinson hanging greedily on Draco's arm. As soon as Draco caught sight of Anastasia, he sent her a nasty smile, and then leaned down to snog Pansy.

Anastasia scoffed and looked away. She didn't care. Why would she care? He was doing this to make her mad. To make her jealous. To provoke her. But she wasn't jealous, she was with Fred, and she didn't need Draco.

At least that's what she told herself to ignore the dangerous monster stirring inside her chest.

"It's working," Hermione said as she filled out her notes beside their bubbling cauldron of doxycide in potions.

"What?" Anastasia snapped.

"The potion?" Hermione asked critically, and then noticed Anastasia's previous line of sight to Pansy and Draco's station.

"This isn't fair to Fred. You have to tell him about the lifeline," she whispered, taking the streeler shells Anastasia had crushed and plopping them into the potion.

"I can't tell him. He'll be so angry." Anastasia read the next ingredient and began chopping dragon liver. Hermione stared at her in disbelief.

"He'll be angrier if you don't tell him, and he finds out later!"

Anastasia looked over to Draco, who had his arm twisted around Pansy's waist, the two of them nearly ignoring the task at hand. She looked back to Hermione.

"You can't have both," she scolded.

"I don't want both…I want…" she didn't know what she wanted.

That morning between breakfast and potions had been an absolute disaster. Rita Skeeter had publicized Hagrid's lineage, revealing he was the son of a highly dangerous giantess. When they had arrived at Care of Magical Creatures, his cabin was dark, curtains closed, and a vaguely familiar woman stood nearby with a unicorn in tow.

"Wilhemina?" Anastasia asked, approaching her. "What are you doing here?"

Anastasia remembered her from years prior, when Albus used to take her to the beach at shell cottage. The woman's unicorn ranch had been nearby, and the woman had taught her many things about the creatures during their trips.

"That's Professor Grubbly-Plank for now," the older, silver-haired woman corrected, "and I'm here because Professor Hagrid is currently in dispose."

The four Gryffindor friends looked to the morose cabin windows and back to her. The entire class gathered, including Draco, who had already started mocking Harry about Hagrid's departure. Anastasia sent him a nasty glare but could do nothing more, as Professor Grubbly-Plank asked her to help demonstrate basic care procedures.

The week continued miserably. Although Professor Grubbly-Plank's lessons were a peaceful respite from Draco and Pansy's cruel public displays, the Gryffindor crew couldn't help but worry for Hagrid. He wouldn't come out of his hut, no matter how hard they knocked on the door and shouted for him after lessons.

On Saturday, the first Hogsmeade trip of the season arrived. Anastasia dawned her cloak with the twins, and they ventured down the path, noting Hagrid's house as unfortunately unchanged.

They spent some time at Zonko's—Fred and George wanted to take note of any new products hitting the shelves to avoid copies of their own, or even worse, Zonko's catching on and beginning to sell their own versions of the twin's products—and then went along to The Three Broomsticks for butterbeer and conversation.

They spotted Ludo Bagman immediately, speaking to Harry quietly across the room.

"Mr. Bagman!" George called, waving.

"Mr. Bagman, how about a round of butterbeer on us?" Fred joined.

At the sound of the twins' voices, Mr. Bagman shrunk away, noticeably stuttering in Harry's ear. Harry stared at him as if he had a second head.

"Why do you want to invite him for a drink?" Anastasia asked. She remembered she also had business with Mr. Bagman. He said he was going to dig up more information about the saboteur in previous Triwizard tournaments to see how it worked, but he never followed up with her after the first task.

Fred leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"You know all the galleons we won from the World Cup?"

"Yeah?"

"It was leprechaun gold. Turned to ash a day later. Lost all our savings and he still owes us."

Anastasia hadn't been sure how she felt about Bagman to begin with. Now she saw him for the despicable creature he was. It was clear Harry saw it too, although she was certain his reasoning was different.

"Sorry, boys," Bagman apologized, "And Miss Dumbledore, hello! Maybe, another time," he said and dodged the crowd to reach the door.

"Wait, Mr. Bagman!" Anastasia wove between people and chairs and grabbed his cloak hood. He turned with an irritated smile over his shoulder. "Have you found out any more about the…you know what…"

His eyes ogled in recognition.

"Oh, no I'm sorry, afraid I haven't been in my office in quite some time, most of my job is field work, sorry to disappoint. Tata!" Ludo pulled his hood from her grip and dashed out the front door of the tavern.

Anastasia crossed her arms, staring frustratedly at the spot that Ludo Bagman just occupied, the twins hovering behind her with similar expressions.

"Well that was rude," George complained.

Fred, George, and Anastasia asked for their butterbeers at the bar, and crowded into a back booth. Fred chose to sit against the wall on Anastasia's side, one arm relaxed around her shoulders, his face sulking. George flashed a similarly upset glance across the table.

"You think he's avoiding us?" George asked.

"It can't be. It would have had to have been an accident," Fred began. "No Ministry official in their right mind would be running a gambling ring with fake leprechaun gold."

Sometimes, Anastasia couldn't believe how innocent the twins were, despite being two years her senior.

"He is avoiding you, and it couldn't have been an accident," she said, taking a sip of her own drink, and licking the foam off her lip. "Do you know how hard it is to get fresh leprechaun gold? You can't summon it out of thin air. You have to steal it from leprechauns with enough time to give it to someone else before it turns to ash. He probably knew where the Irish team had their mascots housed for the day and took it before the game."

Fred and George shared an even more upset glance. One that wasn't fitting for either of them. They weren't themselves when they were unhappy.

"All I want," Fred said forcefully, "is enough money to get our own storefront after graduation."

"Fred—" George started.

"No!" Fred countered. "I don't have to want to save up by working for someone, George. Merlin knows that'll never work. We need to have capital if we're going to get this thing off the ground…"

Anastasia had never seen him so passionate before, and she suddenly understood his todo about the Triwizard prize from so long ago.

"What thing?" Anastasia asked. "You mean your joke company?"

Before he could answer, another lowly creature quickly assumed the entryway of the tavern, Rita Skeeter. The woman, now in bright yellow robes, walked in with her head held high, curls bouncing. She was speaking rapidly to her photographer about Mr. Crouch's disappearance.

Harry decided to call her out for her article on Hagrid. In the next 30 seconds, the trio began arguing viciously with her, and it only ended when Rita began insulting Hermione, and they hurried to escape out the front door.

Anastasia looked back to Fred meaningfully.

"It's fine," he said, "I'll see you later." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and jaunted off, avoiding Rita entirely.

In the snowy street, Anastasia caught up to the others just as Hermione was shouting. "I'm not hiding from her! And neither is Hagrid!"

Hermione was in the kind of mood that none of them was brave enough to interrupt. They stormed into Hagrid's hut, just as Albus was finishing up having tea with him. It seemed that Hagrid wasn't in danger of being fired for his lineage at all, in fact, he was trying to resign out of shame.

Anastasia hugged her father around the shoulders, and all the Gryffindor students joined their two elders at the table as Albus summoned four more cups of tea. It took a rousing bit of persuasion, but eventually they got through to Hagrid that no family shame published in the paper was worth hiding inside for the rest of one's life.

"Look at what I've got for relatives!" Harry shouted. "Look at the Dursley's!"

"And if I had hidden when Rita published anything about grandad or the obscurus or my outings with Cissa last year, well I'd be right back where I started…in my room up in the tower doing nothing important," Anastasia continued.

Hagrid seemed bolstered by his students' examples, smiled a bit, and sat up a little straighter in his chair. Albus looked to the rafters of the cabin, remembering something they couldn't see, and weighed in as well.

"Our family's had our share of scandals. Why once, Aberforth was ousted for performing inappropriate spells on a goat, and he went on with life as if nothing in the world could bother him."

"What did he do with the goat?" Anastasia asked, eyes wide.

Albus cleared his throat, "that's a story for another time…," and he said no more.

Draco

The following Monday, Draco was sitting at the lunch table in the Great Hall. Again, Pansy clung tight to him as she ate her morning oatmeal. Although he was mainly dating her out of anger at Anastasia, he had become accustomed to her company. Pansy's constant doting was a nice change to Anastasia's hard-to-get lifestyle. Even when they were together, it seemed no matter how close he wanted her, Anastasia always stood out of reach, looking the other direction.

Her glares of envy had been another nice change of pace. If only he could push her over the edge, she might break up with the bookend and come running back to him.

Draco unfolded the note that Blaise had passed to him.

They'll perform the ritual tonight. Warn her.

Draco's heart stopped beating. He hadn't paid any attention to the Dark Magic crew since he started his affair with Pansy. Blaise, who had stopped attending the Dark Magic meetings many moons ago, must have overheard something. He stuffed the paper in his pocket and clamored out of the bench.

"What? Where are you going?" Pansy spat angrily.

"I-I forgot there's an arithmancy quiz today…I have to study…" and he ran off down the hall.

Fred

Fred and George had decided it was time for them to check out this abandoned castle wing. It had been on the Maurauder's Map before they gave it to Harry, and they might have passed through it once, but having no interesting rooms or additional castle exits, it proved rather bland.

Still, if a whole group of students could perform dark magic rituals there without a problem, it could also serve as a hub for their pranking practice.

The two snuck up the back stairwell after potions to the half floor between the dungeons and the first floor of the castle. They took the small, tucked away exit into the corridors, and wandered down the way, gazing at the architecture that seemed more ancient than the rest of the castle, slowly decaying in places, yet still beautiful. They passed an outlet to a courtyard, and only a few meters later, located an alcove with a flower shaped pattern in the tilework.

But what lay on top of the pattern sent them both into shock.

A fox lay on the tile, murdered, slashed throat to tail, limbs splayed wildly out, its blood trickled into a circle around it.

Above the sacrifice, four iron chains hung on the wall, as if awaiting a human victim.

"Blimey…" the twins couldn't even curse correctly, couldn't think of a joke that would be fitting in the moment.

"We have to tell Dumbledore," Fred said, gazing around at four black candles set outside the circle. George wandered to a corner and picked up a black leather book lying on the ground with a maroon velvet bookmark. He opened it to the page and showed it to his brother.

Ritual for Summoning and Controlling Obscurus

"Yeah. Yeah, we do," George said implicatively.

Fred took off running.

Anastasia

Anastasia finished washing up after lunch and came out of the loo to find a tall, Durmstrang student hanging around innocuously.

"Hello," the Durmstang student said politely. Anastasia looked up, expecting to see Viktor Krum asking her about something for Hermione, but instead he found a rather tall, tapered guy staring down at her suavely.

"Um, hello," she uttered out.

"You are Dumbledore, no? The student?"

"Yes…" she stuttered. "Who are you?"

He offered his hand. She shook it out of politeness, but there was something in his stance that told her to stay away. He leered over her like a hungry wolf.

"My name is Gregor Lukov. It is a pleasure to meet you. My friends and I spotted your article in Witch Weekly."

"Oh, did you?" she asked, blushing. She was hoping that no one would talk to her directly about the issue. It was a bit embarrassing after all. A public love confession gone wrong. What had she been thinking? But remembering their conversation with Hagrid the other day, she brushed the embarrassment way. It wasn't worth dwelling on.

"It's unfortunate Malfoy didn't value your unique spirit. I'm sorry for your unfortunate breakup," he offered, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. She winced and tried to pull away, but he kept hold of her hand.

"Oh, well, it's really no matter. Suppose that's the way young love goes," she shrugged. But it wasn't, not for her and Draco anyway.

"My classmates would enjoy the chance to meet you. Do you have the time? They're in the library right now. Maybe we can go together?" He asked kindly. Anastasia shirked back once again, but couldn't pry herself from his grip.

"Um, I don't know…my friends are probably looking for me. I have class soon," she examined his face. He had been part of the group Draco had been hanging out with at the beginning of the year. She remembered his sallow cheeks and thick, well-shaped eyebrows.

"Anastasia!" Draco called. He had sprinted from the same direction Lukov wanted to lead her in. He stopped a few feet from her and rested with his hands on his knees. "Anastasia—I—um—"

Anastasia ripped her hand away from Lukov to place it on her hip.

"What? What do you want? To rub it in my face even more? Congratulations. You have Pansy Parkinson. I hope you have a beautiful life together!" she yelled flippantly. All of the anger she had been storing up, not wanting to show her true feelings in front of the Gryffindors finally slipped out. She couldn't help it.

Draco eyes shot warily to Lukov. "That's not the point right now…I need you to come with me. It's important."

Fear echoed in Draco's tone. His gaze shone earnestly. He wouldn't be doing this unless it were urgent…unless it had something to do with the lifeline.

"Ah, Malfoy, you interrupted us." Lukov suggested, "She was on the way to meet our friends."

Anastasia shivered. The way he said our friends made her hair stand on end.

"No, she wasn't." Draco grabbed her forearm. His eyes glowered at the older boy. "Her father needs to see her now. Professor Dumbledore. The Headmaster."

Anastasia was about to take Draco's suggestion and walk off with him, but then the sound of another pair of footsteps charged from behind.

Fred.

"Malfoy, get away from her!" He pulled his wand out and blasted Draco back, breaking his grasp on Anastasia's arm.

"Fred, stop!" Anastasia instructed.

"No, Anastasia, stay back." Fred threw his body in front of her, one arm out, his wand aimed at Draco.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Protecting you!" Fred shot.

Draco looked as stunned as the day he was turned into a ferret.

"Weasley, I don't mean any harm—" Draco's voice was honest, begging.

"Bloody hell, you don't! I saw your little plan—"

"Plan?" Anastasia asked. "What plan?" Fred turned his head over his shoulder.

"No! No, I didn't do that—" Draco panicked. "I wouldn't—"

"He's got dark magic circle out to remanifest your obscurus. There's a dead fox and all."

"What?" she asked. Her heart dropped into her stomach. Draco would never do something like that, not even at his angriest. It would only hurt him too. Past Fred, Anastasia saw Lukov sneak away and vanish into the corridors and understood immediately.

"Weasley, I'm not the enemy! She needs to go someplace safe—" Draco reached out to grab past him. Reflexively, Anastasia stretched her hand out and caught his.

"You son of a—" Fred began, raising his wand.

"Fred, wait—" she started, trying to put the pieces together for him.

But it was too late.

Fred used his wand as a distraction. With his left hand, he grabbed the vial of eau d'inflame from his robe and sprayed it in Draco's face.

"NO!" Anastasia screamed.

Draco fell back against the stone floor, clawing at his cheeks, which turned bright red, with hives breaking down his neck. He gasped for breath.

"Get it off, get it off—" he writhed.

White hot pain spread through Anastasia's face as it swelled, she grabbed her face and screamed. So painful she almost fainted, she lowered herself onto the ground and laid back against the stone floor.

Fred turned and saw Anastasia. Her hair flayed out around her as her eyes stared out blankly.

"What—what happened, I don't understand…none of it hit her. Anastasia!" He yelled, bending down to shake her shoulder. "Anastasia!"

Anastasia's lungs collapsed in her chest. Her eyes bulged. She reached out to grab Fred's shoulder. Draco couldn't breathe and neither could she. Hearing the screams, other students ran into the hall. The other Gryffindors along with several others.

"Fred, the countercurse an antidote. Now!" Ron screamed frantically, pointing at Draco.

Fred looked up at his brother confusedly. Ron lowered his voice.

"It's a bloody lifeline—if Malfoy dies it'll kill them both."

"I didn't make an antidote…" Fred realized. "Oh, Merlin. Help! HELP! Anybody!"

Anastasia's hand slipped from his shoulder to the center of his chest, gripping his heart as the world around her faded to black.