Chapter 36: Vision

December 18, 2002

"Buffy," Ron said as they were heading to the final Dumbledore's Army lesson before the Christmas holidays. "Mum asked me to invite you, Harry and Dawn for the holidays."

"I don't know," Buffy said as she looked at her sister. "I was thinking Willow, Harry, Dawn and I would go home to Sunnydale for Christmas."

"It's alright, Buffy," Dawn said knowing full well why Buffy was thinking they should go home instead of to the Burrow or stay at Hogwarts.

"It's not alright, Dawn," Buffy said. "I'm seriously debating whether the three of us will be coming back after the holidays. Umbridge has banned Harry from Quidditch. She made you talk about one of the worst possible memories you and I both share."

"Please, Buffy," Dawn said as she stopped her sister. "I know this year has been difficult for us with her around. And it would be so easier just to run away and never come back. But that's what they want. They want us to leave and never come back. We can't bow to what they want."

"Dawn's right," Ginny agreed. "You can't give in, Buffy."

Buffy looked at her siblings, Willow and their friends and nodded. "All right. Ginny, Ron, tell your mom, we'll come." She looked toward her girlfriend and smiled. "That said, Will, you can go home if you want."

"When you do, I will," Willow said as she brought Buffy's hand to her lips and kissed it. "Till then I'm not leaving your side."

They stepped into the Room of Requirement and saw that someone had taken it upon themselves to decorate the place for Christmas. The door creaked open moments later and Luna Lovegood entered.

"Hello," Luna said vaguely, looking around at the decorations. "These are nice, did you put them up?"

"No," Buffy said. "I expect it was the house elf, Dobby."

"Mistletoe," said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry's head. He jumped out from under it. "Good thinking. It's often infested with nargles."

They were saved the necessity of asking what nargles were by the arrival of Angelina, Katie, and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very cold.

"Well," said Angelina dully, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, "we had tryouts."

"With Dawn as Seeker," Buffy said. "Who did you get for Beaters?"

"Andrew Kirke," said Alicia without enthusiasm, "and Jack Sloper. Neither of them is brilliant, but compared with the rest of the idiots who turned up…"

"And for our replacement slot," Angelina added. "Ginny."

Dawn turned and pulled her girlfriend into an embrace. "Congratulations, Ginny."

"Thanks, Dawn," Ginny said as Neville arrived.

"Okay," Buffy said, calling them all to order after the last of the students arrived. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break. Break off into pairs and we'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all divided up obediently; Buffy partnered up with Willow as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

In the time since the first Dumbledore's Army lesson and since Buffy and Dawn had taken Willow to Sunnydale. Willow had slowly been getting over her fear of magic. She still hesitated at times but having someone who believed in her helped.

"Will," Buffy said. "Would you practice with Dawn and Ginny so I can make the rounds?"

"Sure, baby," Willow said.

Buffy turned and watched everyone and could see that everyone had progressed quite a bit since the first lesson, even Neville.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, Buffy had them get out the cushions and start practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.

At the end of an hour, Buffy called a halt. "You all are doing really good," Buffy said. "If this were an actual class, I would likely be giving a number of you Outstanding or Exceed Expectation. Now I am sure a number of you were wondering if I would be returning after the holidays given what has happened in the last couple months with my family. I will admit it crossed my mind. That said I was persuaded not to give in to what the Ministry wants. So, we'll pick up again after the holidays. As you know after our initial lesson, I changed what I intended to do. We worked primarily on the more beginner wand spells and muggle self-defense. After the holidays we will start with more advanced wand spells, such as the Patronus. Which Dawn, Harry and I will all be showing you. We'll also start on Wiccan spells."

There was a murmur of excitement. As the room began to clear in the usual twos and threes. Ron, Dawn and Ginny left before Buffy, Harry and Hermione. Buffy had noticed that Hermione had hung back intentionally and was currently standing underneath the mistletoe.

"What more incentive do you need, Harry," Buffy whispered in her brother's ear as she motioned toward Hermione and the mistletoe.

Harry looked at his sister for a moment as if to say what?

"I see it, Harry, every time you look at her," Buffy explained. "Go on."

Harry looked at Hermione for a long moment and then slowly walked across the room. "Hey," he said.

"Hmm?" Hermione said.

"Mistletoe," Harry said as he pointed up.

Hermione looked up at the Mistletoe and laughed. "So it is."

"Tradition you know," Harry said.

"Right," Hermione agreed.

Harry turned and glanced back toward Buffy who he saw was exiting out the door. He then looked at Hermione and thought to himself for a moment. "I like you, Hermione," he said as he pulled her in close and kissed her.

Ten minutes later Harry and Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room to find Dawn, Ginny and Ron in the best seats by the fire; nearly everybody else had gone to bed.

"What kept you two?" Ron asked.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each, neither of them answered.

"Are you two all right?" Dawn asked, peering at the pair over the tip of her quill, she had been writing a letter to Xander, Anya, Faith and Sirius that she intended to portal to them on Christmas morning.

"What's up?" said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. "What's happened?"

"Nothing," Hermione answered as she headed for the stairs to the girl's dormitory. "I'm just tired."

"Did you two kiss?" asked Dawn briskly.

Hermione stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at Harry.

"Well?" Ron demanded.

Harry looked at his sister and Ron then at Hermione who nodded resignedly. He nodded.

Dawn smiled as she hopped up and hugged first her brother and then Hermione. "You lost, Ron," she said. "Ron and I had a bet going. He said you wouldn't do it and I said you would. Especially when I specifically asked Dobby to put up some mistletoe when he decorated the room for me."

"You set it up," Harry said as he glared at his sister.

"Me and Buffy," Dawn admitted. "Ron, Ginny, Buffy and I have seen how you look at each other when you don't think the other is looking."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That night Dawn slept dreaming of gliding between shining metal bars, across dark, cold stone… She was flat against the floor, sliding along on her belly… It was dark, yet she could see objects around her shimmering in strange, vibrant colors… She was turning her head… At first glance, the corridor was empty… but no… a man was sitting on the floor ahead, his chin drooping onto his chest, his outline gleaming in the dark… Dawn put out her tongue… She tasted the man's scent on the air… He was alive but drowsing… sitting in front of a door at the end of the corridor…

Dawn longed to bite the man… but she must master the impulse… She had more important work to do… But the man was stirring… a silvery cloak fell from his legs as he jumped to his feet; and Dawn saw his vibrant, blurred outline towering above her, saw a wand withdrawn from a belt… She had no choice… She reared high from the floor and struck once, twice, three times, plunging her fangs deeply into the man's flesh, feeling his ribs splinter beneath her jaws, feeling the warm gush of blood…

The man was yelling in pain… then he fell silent… He slumped backward against the wall… Blood was splattering onto the floor…

Dawn's forehead hurt terribly… It was aching fit to burst…

"Dawn!" DAWN!"

Dawn opened her eyes. Every inch of her body was covered in icy sweat; her bedcovers were twisted all around her like a straitjacket; she felt as though a white-hot poker was being applied to his forehead.

"Dawn!"

Hermione was standing over Dawn looking extremely frightened. There were more figures at the foot of Dawn's bed. She clutched her head in her hands; the pain was blinding her… She rolled right over and vomited over the edge of the mattress.

"She's really ill," said a scared voice. "Should we call someone?"

"Dawn! Dawn!"

Dawn taking great gulps of air, pushed herself up in bed, willing herself not to throw up again, the pain half-blinding her. "Hermione," she said. "Tell Buffy, Mr. Weasley's been attacked."

Hermione's eyes went wide as she rushed out of the dorm as she headed down the stairs, she rushed into the fourth-year dorms. "Ginny!"

Ginny slowly sat up in bed. "It's late, Hermione."

"Dawn just said your dad has been attacked," Hermione said. "I'm going to get Buffy now."

Ginny was out of bed like a shot. She followed Hermione out of the dorm. As Hermione turned to head down, she turned and headed up. She burst into the fifth-year dorms and rushed over to her girlfriend. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Dawn nodded. "He's been bitten, Ginny, it's serious, there was blood everywhere…"

They heard footsteps on the stairs and Buffy burst into the dorm followed by Willow and Hermione.

"What did you see, Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"Mr. Weasley attacked," Dawn said. "By a snake."

"Put on your dressing gown, Dawn," Buffy said. "Hermione, go get Ron and Harry. Meet us in the common room. Ginny go put on your dressing gown. We're going to see the headmaster."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 - 0

When Buffy, Willow, Ron, Ginny and Harry were in the common room together. Buffy led them out through the portrait hole, and off along the Fat Lady's moonlit corridor. They passed Mrs. Norris, who turned her lamplike eyes upon them and hissed faintly, but Buffy said, "Shoo!" Mrs. Norris slunk away into the shadows, and in a few minutes, they had reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"Fizzing Whizbee," said Buffy.

The gargoyle sprang to life and leapt aside; the wall behind it split in two to reveal the stone staircase that was moving continuously upward like a spiral escalator. They stepped onto the moving stairs; the wall closed behind them with a thud, and they were moving upward in tight circles until they reached the highly polished oak door with the brass knocker shaped like a griffin.

Though it was now well past midnight, there were voices coming from inside the room, a positive babble of them. It sounded as though Dumbledore was entertaining at least a dozen people.

Buffy rapped three times with the griffin knocker, and the voices ceased abruptly as though someone had switched them all off. The door opened of its own accord and Buffy led Dawn, Willow, Ginny, Harry and Ron inside.

The room was in half-darkness.

"Oh, it's you, Buffy … and… ah."

Dumbledore was sitting in a high-backed chair behind his desk; he leaned forward into the pool of candlelight illuminating the papers laid out before him.

"Albus," Buffy said. "Dawn had a dream. Dawn, tell him."

"I saw Mr. Weasley attacked by a giant snake," Dawn said.

There was a pause in which Dumbledore leaned back and stared meditatively at the ceiling. Ron looked from Dawn to Dumbledore, white-faced and shocked.

"How did you see this?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"You mean what eyes were I looking out when I saw it?" Dawn asked as Dumbledore nodded. "The snake. I saw it through the snake's eyes."

Nobody else spoke for a moment, then Dumbledore, now looking at Ron and Ginny, who was still whey-faced, said in a new and sharper voice, "Is Arthur seriously injured?"

"Yes," said Dawn emphatically.

Dumbledore stood up quickly and addressed one of the old portraits hanging very near the ceiling. "Everard?" he said sharply. "And you too, Dilys!"

A sallow-faced wizard with short, black bangs and an elderly witch with long silver ringlets in the frame beside him, both of whom seemed to have been in the deepest of sleeps, opened their eyes immediately.

"You were listening?" said Dumbledore.

The wizard nodded, the witch said, "Naturally."

"The man has red hair and glasses," said Dumbledore. "Everard, you will need to raise the alarm, make sure he is found by the right people—"

Both nodded and moved sideways out of their frames, but instead of emerging in neighboring pictures, neither reappeared.

"Everard and Dilys were two of Hogwarts's most celebrated Heads," Dumbledore said, now sweeping around Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Ginny, Harry and Ron and approaching Fawkes on his perch beside the door. "Their renown is such that both have portraits hanging in other important Wizarding institutions. As they are free to move between their own portraits, they can tell us what may be happening elsewhere…"

"Please sit down, all of you," said Dumbledore. "Everard and Dilys may not be back for several minutes… Buffy, if you could draw up extra chairs…"

Buffy pulled her wand from the pocket of her dressing gown and waved it; six chairs appeared out of thin air, straight-backed and wooden.

Dumbledore stroke Fawkes's plumed golden head with one finger. The phoenix awoke immediately. He stretched his beautiful head high and observed Dumbledore through bright, dark eyes.

"We will need," said Dumbledore very quietly to the bird, "a warning."

There was a flash of fire and the phoenix had gone.

There was a shout from the top of the wall to their right; the wizard called Everard had reappeared in his portrait, panting slightly.

"Dumbledore!"

"What news?" said Dumbledore at once.

"I yelled until someone came running," said the wizard, who was mopping his brow on the curtain behind him, "said I'd heard something moving downstairs—they weren't sure whether to believe me but went down to check—you know there are no portraits down there to watch from. Anyway, they carried him up a few minutes later. He doesn't look good, he's covered in blood, I ran along to Elfrida Cragg's portrait to get a good view as they left—"

"Good," said Dumbledore as Ron made a convulsive movement, "I take it Dilys will have seen him arrive, then—"

And moments later, the silver-ringletted witch had reappeared in her picture too; she sank, coughing, into her armchair and said, "Yes, they've taken him to St. Mungo's, Dumbledore… They carried him past under my portrait… He looks bad…"

"Thank you," said Dumbledore. He looked at Buffy. "Buffy, go and wake the Weasley twins. Bring them back here."

Buffy got up and moved swiftly to the door. She stopped and looked back at Dumbledore. "What about Molly?"

"That will be a job for Fawkes when he has finished keeping a lookout for anybody approaching," said Dumbledore as Buffy headed out the door. "But she may already know… that excellent clock of hers… Dawn when Buffy returns, I will need you to open a portal to headquarters."

"Okay," Dawn said.

Several minutes later Fred and George were ushered inside by Buffy, both of them looking disheveled and shocked, still in their night things.

"What's going on?" asked Fred.

"Dawn, Buffy says you saw Dad hurt—" George said.

"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," said Dumbledore before Harry could speak. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you to Buffy's London house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."

"How're we going?" asked Fred, looking shaken. "Floo powder?"

"No," said Dumbledore, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You are leaving here by portal." He indicated Dawn.

There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor.

"It is Fawkes's warning," said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. "She must know you're out of your beds… I'll, go and head her off. Dawn, now, please."

Dawn closed her eyes as Dumbledore left the office. When she opened them again a shimmering portal had snapped into existence. "Walk through."

Everyone rushed through the portal into the basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"Dawn, you should explain," Buffy said. "So that everyone is on the same page."

"I had a vision," Dawn started. "I saw what happened as if I was looking out the eyes of a giant snake. The snake attacked Mr. Weasley."

Ginny at once moved beside her girlfriend and pulled Dawn into an embrace. Yes, Ginny, like her brothers was in shock at learning their father was attacked. At the same time, she felt the need to comfort Dawn who had seen the whole thing and been unable to do anything about it than tell other people who could do something about it.

"Where's mum?" said Fred.

"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," said Buffy. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Albus is letting Molly know now."

"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pajamas. "Buffy, do you have any cloaks we could borrow or anything—?"

"Ginny," Buffy said. "You can't leave, I'm sorry. You have to remember you are supposed to be still at Hogwarts till the train leaves bring you back to King's Cross tomorrow. If anyone saw you out right now, they would find it suspicious. And right now, the less suspicion drawn toward your family the better. How would you explain not only being in London already but how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let Molly know? Think for a second. Do you know what that would do to Dawn if you even let slip, she was the one that told you? After all, only those us here plus a few others knows anything about Dawn. If it were found out that Dawn was having visions. They would start looking into her heavily. What do you think the Ministry would do if they found out anything about her?"

"If they discovered that she had the Key," Fred said as he looked toward Dawn, who like her siblings he considered a very good friend. "They might experiment on her. They might use the Imperius on her so they control the Key. Or they might send her to Azkaban."

"Exactly," Buffy said. "You all know that I know this is hard for you. You know that Dawn and I lost our mother last year. She was sick before the surgery and then afterward the doctor gave her a clean bill of health and sent her home. A couple weeks later she died. So, Dawn and I both know how your feeling right now. We know you want to do something to help your father get better. But because of the circumstances of how we found out. We have to wait for Molly to be notified so as not to draw suspicion that Dawn told you and that you are out of school and in London earlier than you should be."

"Come on, Ginny," Dawn whispered as she pulled Ginny toward a chair. She sat down and then pulled Ginny into her lap. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. "It'll be okay."

Fred and George looked at Buffy for a long moment as if fighting with themselves. They slowly began to realized that Buffy was right. If they went to St. Mungo's now. Not only would it be bad for them but for Dawn as well. They took seats on either side of Dawn and Ginny.

"That's right," said Buffy encouragingly, "come on, let's all… let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!" She raised her wand as she spoke and eight bottles came flying toward them out of the pantry, skidded along the table and stopped neatly in front of the nine of them. They all drank, and for a while the only sounds were those of the crackling of the kitchen fire and the soft thud of their bottles on the table.

"I'll be right back," Dawn whispered into Ginny's ear. She scooted her girlfriend aside and got up. She tapped Harry and motioned for him to follow her. She led out into the hall and closed the door behind them. "Did you see it also?"

"Yes," Harry admitted. "I kept quiet because you had already alerted Buffy."

"Fawkes!" came Buffy's voice through the door. Harry and Dawn rushed back into the kitchen and saw that Buffy held a letter that the phoenix had delivered. "That's Molly's writing. Okay, Arthur is alive. Molly's setting out for St. Mungo's. She wants us to stay here. She will send news as soon as she can."

George looked around the table. "Still alive…" he said slowly. "But that makes it sound…" He did not need to finish the sentence.

Dawn looked toward her sister as her own mind finished George's sentence.

Fred pulled the parchment out of Buffy's hands and read it for himself, then looked up at Dawn.

"I would suggest that we get some sleep," Buffy said as she watched her sister sit back down and pull Ginny back into her lap. "But I know how hard that will be while we wait for news."

Ginny turned as best she could while sitting in Dawn's lap and laid her head on Dawn's shoulder. Fred fell into a doze, his head sagging sideways onto his shoulder. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. Buffy, Dawn and Harry looked at each other every so often, intruders upon the family grief, waiting… waiting…

December 19, 2002

At ten past five in the morning by Ron's watch, the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron, and Buffy half-rising from their chairs, she gave a wan smile.

"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."

Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his butterbeer in one.

"Sit, Molly, you've been through a lot," Buffy said as Mrs. Weasley turned and looked at her. "While not exactly the same you know that Dawn and I have had to deal with a similar situation." Mrs. Weasley nodded her thanks. "Dawn, Harry would you two make us breakfast."

Dawn and Harry started hurrying around the kitchen. While Harry busied himself at the stove. Dawn was taking plates from the dresser. Mrs. Weasley lifted them out of her hands and pulled her into a hug.

"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Dawn," she said in a muffled voice. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore's been able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise."

"It's all right, Mrs. Weasley," Dawn said. "I'm just glad I did."

"Buffy," Mrs. Weasley turned and looked at the Slayer before looking at Willow, "Willow, thank you both for watching them for me. I'm so grateful… They think he'll be there a little while. Buffy, do you mind that we're here? It would be wonderful to be nearer… Of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas…"

"Dawn, Harry and I would be happy to have you for as long as you want or need to stay," Buffy said as her siblings nodded in agreement.

Mrs. Weasley beamed at Buffy, she threw on an apron, and began to help Dawn and Harry with breakfast.