'' While I thought that I was learning how to hold up, I have been learning how to die. ''
~ Leonardo da Vinci da Vinci ~



Chapter 16 ~ New roadblock


Harry clenched his fist around thin air, squeezing the life out of some unseen adversary within the quiet hospital wing. The silence was only broken by Kaylens'tranquil breaths, her breast rebellion and falling as steadily as the brightness air fluttering the curtains.

He 'd been cooped up for daytime, still healing himself, and had been forced to view her grow ever stiller. Surely he was trapped within one of the seven circles of hell, for each time he looked upon her his guilt rose like a attack, the flames threatening to consume him.

She had saved him. Despite everything he had screamingly accused her of, she had still nearly given her life sentence for his.

Now she lay in this comatose Department of State, and even dame Pomfrey had been unable to rouse her.

Her skin still held the pallidness of death, yet to him it seemed slightly rosier.

Perhaps it was his own wishful thinking.

He rose, ineffectual to remain still, watching her with zip save his thoughts for society.

Thoughts were such poor comfort ...

Not allowed and unwilling to leave, he began sorting through the events of the past tense few days.

The exoneration, the satisfaction, and everything he had expected to find were conspicuously lacking.

Bellatrix Lestrange was dead.

So why did he experience robbed ?

The obvious solvent came. Tonks had beaten him to the kill. She had killed the one person who 's dying he had desired above all but Voldemort himself. And now he would never have the chance to avenge Sirius the way he had wanted.

Worst of all, Lestrange 's body was gone.

He had wanted to look upon the exanimate fount of Sirius'grampus and spit upon it.

Now even that cruel quilt had been taken from him.

All he was left with, were unanswered questions, and this cruel circle of underworld called the Hogwarts hospital wing.

Still, the facts did not add up. last feeder held no loyalty for one another. To them nothing was sacred.

Yet they had salvaged the body.

There was no coming back from the killing curse ...

So why do it ?

He had unconsciously wandered, finding himself in front of the give third floor window. The fall scented breeze blew across his bare dresser, cooling him. His shirt lay discarded upon his bed, his shoulder gauze recently removed, exposing the nipper marks that now indented his skin.

It was necessary, brothel keeper Pomfrey had insisted upon having his wound exposed to the air. He was to be released soon, and she needed to ascertain that it would hold up on it 's own.

His fractured scapula had been mended quickly, but wolfman injury were slack to heal.

It was fortunate he had not been bitten, they had said.

Was he lucky ? He was not sure. But even when Dumbledore and Tonks had come, he had felt nix but hollow. His own apathy was almost enough to like for death.

Only yesterday had Dumbledore 's brave eyes bored into his, recounting the events in full.

'' Experimental go, their effects unknown to the Order, have been added to Voldemort 's arsenal of weaponry, Harry. Take paying attention ... ''

He would.

He had seen what happened to lupin first hired hand, for his translation had been triggered by the spell Lucius Malfoy had hit him with.

It had happened during the day.

Now, where death feeder roamed, the moon would no longer bind it 's sway.

Harry shuddered in the breeze, contemplating the many horrors Voldemort might unleash in addition to daylight roaming werewolves.

Of course there was no need to speculate. Dumbledore had told him about the atrocities of previous.

XL seven innocents, four of them children, had walked upon the Earth. Now they lay beneath it 's unforgiving ground, removed by the unkind actions of Voldemort 's minions.

Hermione 's parents would soon join them, and his common cold rational side realized that when it happened, part of Hermione 's person would be taken forever.

'' The war is escalating Harry, far more swiftly than we ever expected ... ''

He was having fuss accepting any of it, for he knew at the heart of it, he was partly to charge.

For if he were truly the one with the power to vote out the night Lord, than every sec he had ever spent reveling in lifetime, and not searching for Voldemort 's demise, had been another grave in the ground for the innocent.

A painful shiver burned within the claw marks he bore, and he wondered if they had re-opened again, bleeding anew. He reached a hired man back, gingerly touching it, the blood upon his finger confirming his suspicions.

It was dubious he would be permitted to leave soon.

'' That 's disgusting. ``

His froze, turning from the window. He stared, taking her in as she blinked the sleep from her eyes, squinting in the sunup sunlight.

'' You 're awake, '' He stated, slightly stunned. He had begun to wonder if she ever would.

She smiled weakly. `` You 're observant. ``

'' You were out for five twenty-four hours. ``

She paled considerably.

He was slow to recoup, and debated getting Madam Pomfrey. But she would be back soon, to check on his own wounds. She could find her wake up then. Besides, he was afraid to leave her alone for even a second gear, fearful that she might accrue into that unending slumber once more.

'' So how is it ? '' Her vox was barely above a whisper.

He studied her, thinking about how to suffice. His superbia made him hesitant to take weakness, but her heart ...

She would discern a lie if he told it, he realized, deciding on the verity.

'' Painful, '' He watched her centre spark shut. `` You ? ''

'' Like hell ... '' She murmured.

'' You look it. ``

She graced him with a wry smile, a lock of tomentum falling into her eyes. She looked almost annoyed.

She reached up, brushing the lock aside, revealing her deathly pale peel. Her controlled apparent movement exposed her own pain to him in a way no words could.

As did her wrist. His center caught upon the night bruise encircling it.

He crossed to her, catching her articulatio radiocarpea gently. She glanced up, hazelnut tree eyes narrowed in mental confusion.

'' You bruise easily do n't you ? '' He asked, cautiously turning her hired hand in his. It was so delicate he was afraid it would break boost than it already had from her fall.

Her middle traveled to where his fingers lay.

'' Apparently, '' Her interpreter was so shadowy ...

'' Pomfrey said she had taken care of this, '' He whispered aloud, gently relinquishing her script. She let it hang upon her pillow, besides her face. `` Your bones may not make healed properly. ``

She flexed it back and forth, grimacing slightly. `` It 's fine. ``

'' Right, '' He said skeptically, withdrawing to the bed across from her, sitting upon the taunt sheets.

It was funny, but had she had woken a few daylight earlier he probably would hold demanded answers, answers about how she knew Lupin, about what she really did or did not bonk about Death eater, but after days of sitting there, watching her frail figure sleep, the simple thought process of interrogating her bothered him.

His solvent could wait, for a little piece at least.

'' Tonks stopped by to begin with, '' He said, breaking the silence. `` She said lupine sends his love. ``

Her eyes opened hopefully. `` So he 's ... ''

'' Yeah, '' He finished.

She sunk farther into the mattress. `` Thank God. Finally something 's gone right. ``

She lay there, so still, for so long, he would suffer sworn she slept. It was component fear, fear that she would not awake, that drove him to the admission.

'' You saved my animation, '' He said quietly.

She stretched ever so slightly, the rag sliding away to reveal her bare toes. Her boldness relaxed, almost serenely. `` You saved mine first. ``

He wanted to argue, but lacked the spirit, watching how her heart broke from his, dancing away.

'' That fall down the stairs you took ... I probably would n't have held up as well. ``

Looking at how slight she seemed, he realized she spoke the truth.

It was then that Pomfrey walked in.

He tore his heart from her, and allowed Pomfrey to niggle over him willingly this time.
* * * * *


Several days later he had been prepped to allow for. His leftfield arm hung loose in a sling, preventing unnecessary movement.

Lupin 's hook had torn into him just beneath his shoulder joint blade, right where several muscles came together. Apparently re-growing heftiness was as wily as re-growing bones.

He still needed to let the cat out of the bag to Kaylens, but she slept. They had not shared a word since she had first awoken, content to sit there in silence. He was debating whether or not to bankrupt that muteness when a scotch looking Ron walked in.

Looking at Ron, he realized that there were former matter that had to be taken forethought of first.

He had been dreading this conversation for days. Ron and Hermione would want solution. Answers about his absence ... Answers about what had occurred in Dumbledore 's office twenty-four hours earlier ... Answers about Voldemort 's usurpation into his thinker ...

Answers he could not give.

How could he excuse the air pressure he felt, or Voldemort 's intrusions, without revealing the mental object of the prophecy ?

How could he explicate what had gone on at Sothis', without revealing all he had seen ?

And how could he explicate why Hermione 's parents had been taken from her ? They would never go for 'because of me'as an answer.

He threw a shoemaker's last glimpse at Kaylens'sleeping descriptor. They would talk later. He promised himself that.

He and Ron stepped into the residence. It was mercifully vacant, making the stone-lined corridor appear longer than usual.

It had been over a calendar week since he and Kaylens had disappeared from the Headmaster 's office, and one of the last tender weekends of the year had driven the student body outside.

As for him, during that time, Voldemort had left his mind alone. He had felt the beginnings of an intrusion days earlier, but Riddle had withdrawn, sensing that his decision had not yet been made.

riddle had given him Thomas More time due to his injury, and for that, Harry had to give him credit.

As evil as Voldemort was, the creature had some class.

They walked in quiet, Ron 's oculus darting towards him. He knew Ron was trying to decide what was dependable to discuss.

Harry decided to save him the awkwardness. `` How 's Hermione ? ``

Ron shrugged despondently. `` How do you think she 's doing ? ``

'' Not good, '' The absence of masses made the corridor cavernous, and his intimation echoed quietly.

'' Harry what 's going on ? ``

I wish I knew Ron ... His own thwarting at this selfsame enquiry had been building inside for days. Dumbledore had told him some, but there was still the question of Kaylens. How did she fit into all of this ? Did she even ? And Voldemort ... There had to be more to it, because the art object Dumbledore had told him did not fit with what he had seen through Voldemort 's own eyes.

Not to remark the prophecy. How in the hell was he supposed to bewilder him ?

There were too many questions to answer, before the most important unity could even be framed.

They walked the residuum of the way in silence.

Hermione was there, waiting for them in the empty dorm room, sprawled out with a book on Ron 's bed. Her optic were rimmed with dismal circles, standardised to Kaylens.

Misery loves companionship, he thought. Ron sat besides her, placing a hired man on her back. Only then did she seem to substantiate they were there.

'' Harry ... H-how are you ? ``

He smiled for her benefit. `` The question is, how are you ? ``

She shrugged, re-burying her olfactory organ into her book. `` They would n't let us see you. ``

'' I know. ``

'' Why ? '' Ron asked.

Harry dropped his bag onto the bed, and began removing the few holding Pomfrey had brought down for him. `` Dumbledore 's orders. '' His eyes would not meet theirs.

Ron frowned. `` His reason ? ``

So he could consume time to brief us on what we could or could not say to you, he thought.

'' He did n't desire us seen. We were n't in ... '' He shrugged with one shoulder joint. `` No one should have got seen us after it okay ? ``

Hermione 's center roamed, landing on his slingback.

He caught the unspoken interrogative sentence. `` lycanthrope wound are dumb to heal. ''

They both looked at him as if he were a new species.

'' W-were you ... ? '' Ron stammered.

'' No. I was not bitten. ``

Hermione looked questioning. `` Harry that 's not potential. ``

'' Why ? '' She cringed at his forcefulness.

'' Because the full moon is n't until ... ''

'' This weekend. Yes I know 'Mione. ``

'' Then how could a werewolf ... ''

His face turned tomb. `` There are ways. ``

Hermione was no longer even trying to show, her representative unusually high. `` That ca n't be. A werewolf ca n't exchange out of lunar episode ... ''

'' Do n't be so surely of that, '' He said bitterly.

Ron looked between them. `` How ? How could it Harry ? ``

Harry stared him down, unblinking. `` Voldemort. ''

Ron 's juicy optic widened, his freckles standing out against his picket fence skin, putting two and two together. `` So when you and Kaylens went to see lupin ... ''

'' He turned. Yes. ``

'' Merlin ... '' Ron whispered, unconsciously rubbing Hermione 's dorsum harder.

'' Harry I do n't understand, '' She said haltingly, shoving her Holy Scripture away, it 's pages flapping lifelessly as it fell to the floor. She spared it not a glimpse. `` Please Harry. What 's going on ? ``

'' Too practically to explain easily, 'Mione. ''

Ron took Hermione 's hand almost naturally. `` Then take your time mate. starting from the beginning. ''

Harry shook his head, hating himself. `` Fine, the beginning then .... '' He steadied himself, and met Hermione 's almost beseeching gaze.

'' You both already know that Voldemort has not given me a bit 's ataraxis since last summer. It 's a private engagement between him and I. We 're both fighting for selective information, about the other side 's approach and departure, about how practically the other side of meat knows ... ''

He talked steadily, opening his dresser draftsman to put clothing away. His military action, however humble, lent a sentience of normality to the otherwise menacing conversation.

'' Your parents 'Mione, he said he will release them, '' He ignored her intake of breath. `` If I tell him what the contents of the prophecy were. ``

Her expression drooped. `` But how could you ? It broke ... '' She glanced at Ron, searching for ratification, repeating herself now. `` You ca n't hump what it said. Could you ? ``

He found himself nodding. `` Yes, Hermione. It broke. But I still know what it said. ``

The silence that followed use up geezerhood within his head, yet it lasted no more than 3 seconds.

'' What did it say ? '' She questioned cautiously.

He remained silent, until her plead vocalisation broke again.

'' Harry, please ... ''

'' Do n't ask me Hermione, not again. It is something I can not percentage. ``

The betrayed looks upon their faces nearly broke his spirit.

Hermione 's lip opened and closed wordlessly. It was Ron who finally gave vocalism to their intellection. `` Why Harry ? Why ca n't you share it ? ``

'' You would not want to hear it. ``

'' How could we not ? Harry this is all we 've worked for ! Did it say how we can bewilder him ... ''

He swallowed hard. `` No Ron. ``

'' Then why wo n't ... ''

'' No. ``

Ron 's voice was hard. `` Then if not us, him ? It could spare 'Mione 's ... ''

The charge in Ron 's voice was too practically. He could take no to a greater extent. `` Because I ca n't Ron ! Don't you think I would if I could ? ``

Ron shook his headway. `` I do n't know anymore Harry. ``

Harry was having fuss keeping his voice level. `` Ron, if I tell him there is no reason for him to observe the farmer alert anymore. It 's our swelled bargaining chip. ``

Hermione sounded so small now. `` But V-voldemort said he 'd ... he 'd l-let them g-go ... ''

His jaw dropped. Hermione was smarter than this was n't she ? `` I 'm deplorable Hermione but once I tell him .... ''

'' He 'd let them go, '' Ron interrupted. `` Make him release one at least Harry ! Then tell him for God 's sakes ! What could it spite ? ! buy with him ! ``

Harry lost his patience. `` Do n't you guy get it ? ! This is Voldemort we are talking about ! '' They both cringed at the epithet, his vocalization rising. `` This is n't some war game were playing against the Slytherins ! This is real life ! Voldemort is eviler that either of you can even imagine ... ''

'' Really ? '' Ron countered. `` Were we or were we not there with you Harry ? Huh ? Did we not see what he was capable of at the department of Mysteries ? ``

Harry shook his point, never more serious. `` No Ron. You did n't. '' He felt almost sorry at Ron 's crestfallen face. `` You only saw what Death Eaters were capable of. That is nothing compared to him. ``

'' Harry then why do n't you just assure us how he ... '' Hermione started miserably.

'' Because Hermione ! There 's no way to explicate it ... ''

'' There 's no need to scream at her mate, '' Ron said coolly.

He laughed bitterly. `` Oh but there is Ron. Because after everything we 've been through you 'd recall you would both trust my judging on this ... ''

'' No, '' Ron squeezed Hermione 's bridge player and stood. `` Because we remember where your judgement got Sothis. ``

Harry felt as if his insides had frozen. There was no arguing this.

'' If you had only listened to Hermione it would n't have happened, '' Ron continued icily. `` And now your hesitancy concerning this prophecy may get her parents killed as well. ``

Hermione had begun tugging on his hand frantically. `` Ron ... ''

'' No Hermione. He needs to get wind this. Because it 's like he does n't even commit us ... ''

'' I do trust you, '' Harry whispered.

Ron 's eyebrows raised so far they disappeared beneath his hair. `` Really ? ! Then why did you hardly breath a word to us all summertime ? Why wo n't you peach to us now ? ``

'' I am talking ... ''

'' No. Your blocking Harry. Like in chess. '' Ron pointed his wand out the threshold, summoning the chess circuit board from the common room. Levitating it, Ron cleared the board save for the instrument, Billie Jean Moffitt King, and queen of both sides, his brow furrowed in absorption. He then moved the pawns so they protectively surrounded the king and queen on one face, leaving the other side 's Billie Jean King and queen unprotected.

'' The way I see it Harry, all you have left are pawns. '' Ron continued, gesturing to the saved side of the board. `` So instead of risking everything to take my Riley B King, you 're protecting yours. ``

Ron moved a instrument on Harry 's side away. `` You 're afraid that if you move your pawns for a second, that I might get in and admit your king. ``

Ron 's queen shot forward, moving through the possible action Harry 's cat's-paw had left, taking his queen out with a violent whang of her chairman. She then stood, posed to call for his king on the future move.

'' The king represents everything your keeping from us Harry. '' He continued seriously. `` You wo n't let your king be taken, because if that happens ... ''

The chess dining table folded in on itself, slamming to the floor.

'' Game over. ``

Harry shook his foreland, unable to deny Ron 's accusation.

He was mightily. And for the first time Harry realized how truly different he was from them.

He loved them, but Ron and Hermione could never share his load, no matter how much they wanted to.

The sound of the metaphorical wall falling between them filled his mind, and Ron spoke again.

'' Game over Harry. Only you're the only when one who knows what secret plan were playing. ``
* * * * *


Harry tromped through the corridor, feeling worse than he had thought potential. He preferred feeling numb, at to the lowest degree then he felt nothing at all.

They simply did not empathize. Not that he had expected them to. thing were too serious now. Voldemort had made a hobby out of extinguishing anyone close to his heart, and he was not about to meet Ron and Hermione 's heads with anything that might arrive at them more tempt quarry than they already were.

Which was why he had categorical out refused to expose anything else, and held his ground about not revealing the prophecy to Voldemort. Not even for Hermione ....

Ron had stormed out telling him to 'keep his secrets'and Hermione had plead with him to 'not exclude them out .'

The choice was no longer his.

No longer would they be privy to Harry thrower 's bad conclusion.

They would n't end up like Sirius.

He knew exactly where he was going, and rounded the corner to the hospital wing. His foul humor only increased when Madam Pomfrey stuck out her head, a forced smile plastered upon it, and asked him to wait.

The room access slammed and the audio of argumentation resumed. Dumbledore 's phonation caught his attention. What was he doing in the infirmary wing ? Perhaps to see Kaylens, but he had already visited them once. It was n't like the headmaster to chatter students though. And he should know, he had been in the infirmary wing too many times to count, but could weigh Dumbledore 's visits there on one hand.

A disturbing thought struck him. What if Kaylens had gotten bad ?

He reached into his pocket and withdrew the extendable ear he had taken to carrying at all times. His decision made he slipped it beneath the door.

Madam Pomfrey 's reproving tint came out clearly. `` ... cells need to reclaim before you can even set about to do magic again. ``

'' But I 'm behind enough as it is ! '' Kaylens ... A twisting undulation of fill-in washed through him. And to think, normally he had worry resisting the itch to mute her.

Dumbledore spoke now. `` Miss Kaylens I do n't guess Remus would desire you over-exerting ... ''

'' Well I 'm not particularly concerned with what he thinks at the moment. ``

The silence was tangible, and he shifted nervously. She was okay, now that he knew this he really shouldn't be listening ...

Yet something about Dumbledore 's tone of voice made him. As outwardly fair as the headmaster had been with him lately, his organized religion in the man was still recovering. It had been shattered too skillfully the previous year.

'' Kalliandra, we did not want you burdened with this. ``

'' Considering that I 'm the one you ca n't cure, do n't you think that should ingest been my conclusion ? ``

curative ? His breadbasket lurched dangerously.

'' Kalliandra, looking at it as a death sentence will not assist matters. ``

Her voice was strained. `` You 're right. Nothing will. You know that the odds ... ''

'' Are only as good as you make them, '' Dumbledore finished. `` That is precisely why we did not desire to burden you with this. ``

'' I 'd prefer the burden, '' Kaylens hissed, her spokesperson suddenly stronger. `` Now is there anything else your keeping from me ? '' Her voice was strained and accusatory. `` Because I 'd like to know before I read about it in some stupid book. ``

Silence.

'' I thought so. ''

His entire torso shook unsteadily. So much so that the approaching footsteps did not read until the door had swung undecided in nominal head of him, revealing a wan looking Kalliandra.

He could only stare, words abandoning him. Her eyes had caught on the extendable ear.

Her garment bag slipped down on her shoulder, her entire form quivering.

'' thrower ... '' She whispered chokingly. She locked center with him, her construction stunned.

A second later she was gone. The glistening of her eyes the harshest reproach he had ever seen.





'' Just as courage imperils spirit, veneration protects it. ''
~ da Vinci da Vinci ~



Chapter 17 ~ Kunnskap

Kunnskap is Norweigan for knowledge



She shoved open the entrance doors, leaving the secure dorm of the school behind, and walked out onto the rapidly cooling flat coat. She blinked back the wet that lingered within her eye. No tears would fall, no subject how hard they threatened. This she promised herself.

She was infuriated, but her wrath paled in comparison to her self detestation. She had been so unbelievably stupid ! It had been bad enough to trust Remus, but to let nearly let down that roadblock again ...

'' Dam n't potter ! '' She swore quietly.

Despite the pain in the neck they had been in, the metre spent within the hospital wing had been pleasant. She and ceramicist had dwelt in silent companionship, both knowing there were things that needed to be discussed. Despite that he had not pressed her to talk, instead he had seemed to calmly accept her silence.

This change had been oddly comforting.

At least until she had stormed out, to find him standing there with an extendable ear.

She kicked the flat coat, scattering dirt in her wake.

She could not fathom why she had thought he would let her keep her secrets. But she had been a gross fool for entertaining the notion.

And for some cause his small betrayal hurt her.

Gods ... She turned her snag filled oculus towards the sky, tracing along the blackening swarm, and noted how low they hung. It was the incoming storm that had drawn her outdoors after all. The strange feeling slithering through her, as if stable electrical energy were tickling her very skin, had been hard to brush aside.

She reveled in the small-scale distraction from her thought, and allowed herself to simply feel.

The looming clouds pulsated with unstable vibrations, their rhythmic throbbing pulsated within her very origin, and her haircloth stood on end as if one had just run a balloon through her hair.

The storm presence rolled in above her, and the more astute of her peers began to head indoors. The area surrounding the lake had been the first of the curtilage to be abandoned, and her feet led her there.

She wanted the seclusion.

She had grown so used to despair, to feeling only constant spiritlessness, punctuated by tear of undiluted anger, that she had forgotten how to feel something as human as fear.

Everything had happened so fasting the day she had received the storekeeper note, and there had been no prison term for the cold truth to sink in. Only over the past days, as she and potter had lain there in secrecy, had it finally registered.

Pomfrey 's Bible had just driven it household.

Somehow, hearing the Healer 's words had made it real, and now dread held her heart in a vice clench.

Despite the fear, she felt oddly detached, each aching step reminding her how she had already nearly died from her stout with the werewolf.

Perhaps end would be a blessing. She just had affair to do before it found her.

The shaking in the high gear sky were back, and she cringed at the electricity there. Being a part of such things, feeling such things, was not always pleasant.

It was often painful.

She rubbed her weapon against the shudder wind, thankful that God had some sense of shame. Fortunately for her, the human brainpower could only register pain in the neck as abnormal for so long, before it accepted the pain as the invariable state of matter. Then it would be ignored.

Oddly enough, it was very similar to how the fragrant scent of rose would diminish, if one were to stand amongst them, breathing them in for too long.

Still, acclimation could only do so much, and her eubstance ached, protesting constantly.

Instead of leaving the priming coat at the threat of rainwater, she continued meandering across the grounds, walking the perimeter of the lake, observing it carefully.

She took it all in with her rule perceptiveness. There were berth where the grounds ended, dropping off sharply to meet the duckweed covered Earth's surface of the water supply.

In other spots the reason gradually sloped down, kissing the lake 's rippling waves. There the dark worldly concern was muddied, imprinted with the footprint of those who had braved the shallows to float, before the weather had cooled in aftermath of the incoming afternoon storm.

She passed by both these areas, heading closer to the Forbidden Forest. Here she kicked off her skid, allowing them to drop freely from one hand as she picked her way across the far end of the lake. Here small stones formed a instinctive beach, and she sat down near the edge, letting her fingerbreadth trail across the rough pebbled edges beneath her.

She accumulated a small ingathering of flat bottomed rocks, gathering them within her hands, and she cast the first across the unagitated water, breaking it 's glassy surface.

The colossus squid lazily reached out a tentacle, swatting at and missing the cast stone.

She smiled ruefully, casting another towards him. This time the tentacle swung and connected, sending the stone flying high above her psyche.

A low rumble filled the sky, and the altocumulus swarm dipped threateningly lower, wafting the scent of rainwater upon the breeze towards her. The sky had grown darker, and she vaguely remembered the afternoons she and Sean had once spent, skipping stones across the lake near their kinfolk home.

But there had been no giant calamary to bet with there.

She skipped another.

A heavy pinko tentacle connected with it, hurtling it back.

To the face of her came an unmistakable grunt.
* * * * *


Harry winced, rubbing his forehead. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

It had taken him all of thirty moment to decide to be her. The memory of her watery eyes had been alarming, and he could n't let her entrust like that, not when she did n't understand.

He cast a glower at the colossus squid, approaching her cautiously, carefully trying to not slip upon the slickness rocks as he walked down towards her.

He treaded as close as he dared, pausing to hover uncertainly. Her shoulders had stiffened at his outcry, the only sign to designate that she was aware of his front.

He swallowed hard. From where he stood besides her, he could see the drawn line of her back talk, and how her heart gazed, almost longingly across the non-white open of the lake. He followed her gaze, the first drop curtain of rain drizzling upon them.

The lake 's once lustrous exterior now moved with a life of its own. Each raindrop sending circular ripples outwards, each disturbance merging with the other furrows spreading across its surface. The upshot was entrancing, and he drew his oculus away from the shot before him, to the young woman before him. She was why he had ventured out here, despite the threatening storm.

'' What are you doing out here ? '' He asked carefully. Another rock-and-roll of thunder shuddered the sky, drowning him out, and the titan calamary disappeared beneath the lake 's surface.

'' Enjoying the sunshine, '' Her pilus fluttered lightly around her side. `` I thought it would be obvious. ``

'' It 's not, '' He responded, the lead carrying his voice.

muteness reigned for some time, broken only by the increasing speech rhythm of rain, pattering around them. The water gradually matted his robustious haircloth to his forehead, and Kaylen 's golden hair darkened with saturation.

She sat with a relaxed air, unbothered by the icy droplets pouring down. Slowly, with evident pain in her movements, she scooted close-fitting to the lake 's edge, dipping her pes into the churning water as casually as if it were a mid-summer day, rather than a windy October downpour. Never once did she appear at him.

Her shoulder joint were unfinished, and her damp fuzz clung to them. He was close enough to discover the slim goose bumps prickling across her pale skin.

The conversation he had overheard forced it 's way to the cutting edge of his brain as he watched her shiver.

Kaylens was chuck ...

'' Here, '' He said, shattering their verbal lapse. He picked his way across the pebbly decline to her, shrugging out of his cloak. He felt no gracelessness as he picked up her damp tomentum, draping it across her shoulders.

She looked up, turning her questioning stare towards him. He was at a loss, for the glossiness of her eyes could not be from rain piss alone.

'' You 'll er ... well you 're soaked ... ''

Her eyes held his, and for the most blow over of endorsement the suspicion he was so used to seeing vanished. `` Thank you, '' She murmured, inclining her point to the spot besides her.

He lowered himself besides her, afraid to speak. His tenderness pounded loudly in his chest. Never before had he been so fearsome of reproof. His portion may throw lasted thus far, but even he would not blame her for screaming if she so chose.

For once he could admit to deserving it, and her soundless banker's acceptance of his bearing was unnerving.

The sky thundered, lighting up as lighting flashed mellow in the clouds. It struck him as extremely unwise to be in their positions, so confining to water.

'' We should go in. '' His voice lacked conviction.

With the rachis of her wrist joint she rubbed the water from her eyes.

'' Well ? '' Above the rumbling smash he could severalise she was speaking louder. Though the difference was barely discernable.

'' Well what ? ''

'' I doubt you came here out of business for my fountainhead being, '' She said, staring resolutely across the lake.

He opened his oral cavity to explain that that was exactly why he had come, but she went on.

'' And since there are no conversations going on for you to listen to, I 'm wondering what your doing here. '' Another heartbeat of lightning illuminated her soaked lineament, and he found himself drawn towards her calm expression, confounded by her words.

Despite their content, her quality held no tincture of the familiar satire or malice.

Instead she sounded curious.

The realization sent an out of seat smiling across his facial expression.

'' Kaylens, you would n't conceive me if I told you. ``

'' Try me. ``

'' I came to apologize. ``

To his surprise, she actually laughed. The sound had a haunting timber to it, for it blended artfully with the wind howling around them. The tempest had crept upon them fast.

'' You 're correct. '' She said, shaking her wet hair out in vain. `` I do n't. ``

He seized the opportunity to retain her talking. `` Well I am. Kaylens I ... ''

'' How much did you get a line ? '' Her gaze turned pointedly down.

He sighed in frustration. `` decent to know that you should n't be out in this pelter. ``

She nodded, closing her eyes as if pained. `` You have no idea how wrong you are. ''

He frowned. `` I would if you just talked to me. ``

The feeling she shot him could silence the Beelzebub himself. `` And why should I ? You have n't been the portrait of silver dollar ceramist. ``

'' Perhaps if you would just listen you would find out. ``

She did not suffice. Instead, she tilted her aspect towards the sky, allowing the rain to pour over her more freely. Her hair fell away from her articulatio humeri, revealing her foresighted neck. She remained this way for what may experience been bare seconds, but to him, felt like hours.

'' OK Potter, '' She finally breathed. `` Try me. ''

Such was his astonishment that for once, he did not hesitate.

And he explained.

He explained why he had followed her that day into Knockturn alleyway, how her stubborn refusal to answer questions about Death Eaters had led him, to what he hoped, were unseasonable assumptions, and how, after twenty-four hour period of watching her in a comatose State Department, he had feared that she had fallen ill once again.

He spoke to her, the rainfall cascading down their bodies as they sat, keeping each other 's friend, the storm forgotten. several times she made to move, shaking her promontory disbelievingly, but his bridge player on her arm silenced her refutes. By the sentence he was done, a sad expression had crossed her features.

He studied her, puzzled. `` face, Kaylens I did n't mean to tump over you if ... ''

She shivered noticeably, shaking her sopping hair. `` No, it 's not that Potter ... '' She trailed off, showing no intent of finishing.

He swallowed hard. God he just wanted things to be okay between them. There was still so much to talk about ...

'' Kaylens are ... ''

Her look darkened at his Christian Bible, and she stood abruptly, her shivering more pronounce.

'' We should go in, '' She stated, interrupting him.

He nodded disappointedly, noting that the storm showed no sign of relenting soon, and stood with her. He already felt bad that they had stayed out there so long.

The second he was up she unceremoniously shoved his cloak back into his arms. He looked at it in surprise, and was about to argue, noting how far a walkway to the schoolhouse it still was, when he realized that she had already spun and taken off into the downpour.

'' Wait ! '' He called, utterly confused. He stumbled after her, slipping on the wet rock-and-roll, and caught up to her on the grass.

'' Kaylens keep on it. You 'll freeze otherwise. '' He went to drape it across her shoulders but she brushed him off.

'' I 'm fine, '' She said grimacing. `` Really, '' She added, seeing his disbelieving look.

He matched her pace determinedly, noticing the reemergence of her obstinate streak, and threw it around her anyway. `` Kaylens if you 're sick you 're wearing this until we 're inside. I don't care ... ''

She whorled on him, looking disturbingly unhappy, her skin dangerously pale. `` feeling, Potter ... Do yourself a favor okay ? Do n't concern about me. ``

He found himself shaking, be it from the cold or the icy palor of her cutis, he did not experience, yet all thoughts of actor's line were driven away.

It was as if she were transforming before him. Her icy barriers that he had not even noticed to be missing before, were coming back. What had he done to cause this ? A few second base ago they had been on almost civic terms.

The thought of her hating him again churned his breadbasket. He could n't allow it ...

She was backing away from him. `` In fact ... '' She continued, sounding like a scare animal. `` For your own good, just detain the hell away from me. ``

She took off, leaving him standing there stunned, his sopping wet cloak on the muddy ground.
* * * * *


Over the by few daytime, since Kaylens had left him standing there in the pouring rain, Harry 's humor had not improved.

He just did not empathize what he had done, and every meter he caught a glimpse of her he felt gruesome.

Everytime he had seen her, she had been with Draco Malfoy ...

The fact that he still had a sneak suspiciousness that she was clueless as to what a Death Eater was did not serve issue.

It was enough for him to nearly send curses flying. At Luna 's press, he had taken to kicking suit of clothes of armor instead.

Apparently the metal noise made by kicking something attracted Crumple Horned Snorkacks.

Or something like that.

His response was puzzling, even to him. He could not deny that he felt oddly protective of her. How could he not ? He had spent far too much fourth dimension watching over her in the infirmary wing, and the thought of further harm coming to her drove him mad.

Perhaps that was why he felt so crushed now that the thin rapport he had, for a few exhilarating second, thought they had built, had shattered.

But still ... He could not bottom what it was he had said wrong. All he knew was that she was no foresightful openly hostile towards him. Instead she avoided him like the plague.

He had seen her alone that very cockcrow, and it had taken all his patience to annul hexing her into following hebdomad when she had practically sprinted down the foyer to talk to Dean, upon catching good deal of him.

Hell, he had come damn near skinny to hexing her and Malfoy in Defense Against the Dark Arts that very day. He had walked in to obtain her and Malfoy chatting in hushed whispers, bent over parchment.

The moment he had come within earshot the parchment had been rolled up and choke up hastily into Malfoy 's rule book satchel.

Kaylens had refused to depend at him. But he had not failed to notice how her hands shook for the respite of class.

It had been easily to notice since he had been sitting alone. Ron and Hermione had holed themselves up on the other incline of the room. And unlike Kaylens and Hermione, who contented themselves to avoiding him, Ron had made sport of sending hostile public eye his way.

At least the uncongenial looks from his roomie were intelligible. He had had another violent dream with Voldemort that week, and had woken up in a right wing state, screaming at every one of them.

Even the suit of clothes of armor had taken to cursing him when he walked by. Apparently they did n't like attracting afore mentioned snorkacks.

Come to think of it, the only someone talking to him now seemed to be Luna. And since she was in the year below him, he found himself sitting alone in course of instruction, and eating lunch at the Ravenclaw table.

In short, the week had passed by in a dizzying haze.

Fortunately it would soon be over. Luna had already expressed her intention to get his nous off of matter, and was planning on forcibly dragging him to Hogsmeade.

He actually did n't take care the idea.

He finally reached the door, and Crusantheus surprisingly opened without charge, revealing Dumbledore 's berth. He stepped in for his lessons, removing his wand in preparation.

'' That will be unnecessary today Harry. '' Dumbledore said, catching sight of him from behind his desk.

Perhaps it was because his thought process had been elsewhere, but the idea of a wandless Occlumency lesson caught him off precaution. He furrowed his brow questioningly.

Dumbledore caught the unstated query. `` Tonight, I have something different planned. Besides, I have taught you all I can regarding Occlumency Harry. The rest is up to you. ``

Somehow Harry strongly disagreed with this. If he had learned all there was to know about Occlumency, he would not still be having violent incubus. `` professor, in all due obedience, if I had actually learned everything would n't I be well ... good at this then ? ``

Dumbledore cracked a smile. `` Ah, you see Harry, therein lies the difference of opinion. You have learned all I have to teach about Occlumency. That is an entirely different matter from mastering the discipline. ''

Harry was stunned, all previous thoughts and irritation at the Professor driven from his mind.

Never in his spirit would he have imagined Dumbledore being unable to teach him something.

'' Occlumency, Harry, is less about erecting mental barriers, and Sir Thomas More about controlling one 's emotions. Keeping your emotions hidden from the enemy is of extreme grandness. And frankly, gets comfortable with age. '' Dumbledore stood with a rather large feathering duster and began to lash out a disgruntled portrait with it.

'' Harry, you have become quite adept at creating barriers, visualizing a brick bulwark is your barrier of choice is it not ? '' Harry nodded but Dumbledore was continuing. `` But the only way to strengthen that paries at this point, is to teach to mask your emotions. ``

Harry stared somewhat unabashedly as the previous headmistress made a rather crude hand gesture.

'' Er ... professor ? '' He questioned hesitantly. `` What exactly do you mean by 'masking'them ? ``

'' Ah, not explaining myself very well am I ? ``

He valued his instruction far too a great deal to answer truthfully.

'' Well Harry, when one sifts through your mind, atrocious memories can get unearthed. It 's natural to come back the emotions these experiences caused you. Such a distraction is all the enemy would need to delve deeper into your mind. '' Dumbledore was carrying on with all the air of one discussing a weekend sashay. `` And you have no shortage of painful remembering Harry. It would be quite easy for Voldemort to determine one to use against you. ``

He did not postulate Dumbledore to tell him that, he had already re-lived the guilt trip of Sirius'end all summertime.

'' So are you going to make me relive those memories for practice ? '' He asked, somewhat apprehensive.

Dumledore turned to appear at him, balancing precariously on the stool he was using to reach ole Phinneus'portrait. `` Why of form not. Certainly, I could go sifting about through your intellect, forcing you to echo bad times in your life. But dredging up old memories and forcing you to divvy up with them would only avail you build up unemotionality. We do n't want that. ``

Dumbledore turned back and shoved the feather sirocco right where Phinneus'grimace had just re-appeared. The late headmaster cringed and jumped out of the build again.

'' Harry, what we do want, is for you to come to condition with the crueler component part of your past. And only you can fix what those terms are. But I dare cue you, there is a difference between allowing the past to cue you, and allowing the past to control you. ''

Dumbledore jumped down from the dejection, wiping his cold men on his gown. `` Well now that's done. Now I have something to show up you. ``

He beckoned him to where he stood, withdrawing a worn, leather bound book from one of his shelves. `` You know, I almost lost this after that squabble yourself, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Kaylens had the other day Harry. '' He peered down his spectacles at him. `` I trust that is now resolved ? ``

Harry found himself oddly stuttering. `` S-sort of ... ''

Dumbledore shrugged. `` Well, give it time, give it time. It may require her awhile to open up to anyone, seeing as how topic are. ''

The master was running his wand up and down the pricker of the record book in an odd zig-zag pattern, muttering something about mothball. A tatty 'pop'was heard, making Harry leap, and the book sprang out of Dumbledore 's deal, falling undefendable on the board before them.

'' Now this Harry, is something you will not take in seen, nor heard of before. ``

Harry had to admit that Dumbledore was dead on.

Inside the open book, where the pageboy should make been, lay a pink layer of fog. There was a sense of profundity to the interior of it, and Harry had the vague good sense that another dimension lay just beyond the peacefully twirl.

Dumbledore reached his paw into it. `` It is a rather clever concealment spot for thing. Not only is the locking mechanism for it rather slick, but only a script with my DNA could reach into this and still find their hand attatched. ``

Harry had been unconsciously leaning forward, trying to peer through the fog, but at this dictum took a step back. Dumbledore 's deal fished around blindly for a few instant, before emerging with a silvery chain. A small vial was attached to the end of it.

The schoolmaster shut the record book, muttering a few charms, and replaced it upon the ledge. `` This is something that I have been wanting to open you for quite some time Harry. But until recently, the chance had not presented itself. The fact that it had not, is entirely my flaw, and for that I am sorry. ``

The Headmaster, indeed, truly looked sorry. In fact he was looking rather grave all of a sudden. `` Ever since the day that cursed vaticination was made Harry, myself and a few others have been working on this. I still feel that it is woefully short, but for now, it is all I can collapse you. ''

At this dictum, Dumbledore handed the ampule over. Harry took it with no little amount of trepidation. The vial, Harry found, was surprisingly warm

'' The vial you now hold is a especial form of pensieve, Harry. '' Dumbledore said by way of explanation. `` It is called a Kunnskap. It means knowledge. And unlike formula pensieves, it does not have an straight-out content. It can only contain a select few memories, and I believe that there are 81 dissimilar deterrent example contained within this one. ''

Only eighty-one ? He thought, slightly amused by the Headmasters definition of only. He turned the vial within his custody, noting that unlike in Dumbledore 's pensieve, blue specs darted to and fro within the silvery sum here, colliding frequently to emit dark green electric discharge. It was like watching the mirror image of pyrotechnic in a silvery pond, only on a miniature scale.

A persuasion occurred to him.

'' What do you mean by lessons, Professor ? '' He asked curiously.

'' I was just getting to that. '' Dumbledore replied, looking strained. `` But given the risk that you have been in ever since that cursed prophecy was made, I wanted to consume a way of preserving, and passing on, noesis of sure spells to you. ``

The Headmaster paused, shutting the leather volume. Whisps of curling pink tendrils snuck out around the edges as he placed it back upon the ledge.

'' Times were dreary. '' He continued gravely. `` I did not have sex how many of us would survive, but we knew it was essential to pass on our knowledge to the next generation. This was our way of ensuring that at to the lowest degree one good wizard recieved that if the sorry were to take place. ``

Such a glum pronouncement chilled him, for in admitting that he had once prepared for the worst, Dumbledore had admitted to his own mortality.

Despite his irritation and anger at all the headmaster had withheld over the years, the thought of a deadly Dumbledore shook his concept of a unchanging universe.

The Headmaster motioned Harry into a plush plum armchair, oblivious to his student 's sour thoughts.

'' Over the years, myself, and others within the old Order, added quality pieces of knowledge that we wanted to depart to you, to this. You 'll even find oneself some of my old school day lessons there. Things like apparition, curse-breaking, animagus studies ... They are all in there. ``

Harry listened intently, not wanting to escape a word. The conversation had become oddly personal.

A sign elf popped into existence then, extending a plate of biscuits to him. He scarcely managed to take one, for his brain was fixated on the cruel irony of the situation.

This vial was a true gift, yet he was only receiving it because of the prognostication 's sullen burden.

Suddenly he felt rather blunt. `` professor, you made this to avail me figuer out how to defeat Voldemort, did n't you ? ''

Dumbledore smiled sadly, sipping the tea that had materialized. `` We made it, because we still have Bob Hope. ``

hope ... Why could n't someone else have been wizarding variety 's Bob Hope ?

Dumbledore was mercifully oblivious to the dark intellection still flitting through his mind.

'' Harry, the Kunnskap does not work like a normal pensieve. Instead of entering a memory, the store enters you. So once you unearth one, it 's noesis will persist permanently yours. ``

This piqued his pursuit. `` So you mean that I can become an animagus just by looking at the memory in it ? ``

Dumbledore smiled ruefully. `` No. This will learn you the theory, and knowing the theory of something is entirely dissimilar from putting it to use. However ... '' The man 's dismal oculus twinkled mischievously. `` I have it on well word that learning and researching just the theory on animagi can take geezerhood. So all you will birth left to do is drill putting what this will teach you, into use. ``

Thinking of what he, Ron, and Hermione had planned, he suddenly wondered, for the thousandth time since coming to Hogwarts, just how much that the Headmaster knew about his students.

Against his better judgment, he broke out into a small grinning. Even Hermione, with all her convictions against taking short cut to learn something, would probably die for a look into this thing.

God he would miss them ... Perhaps one day, when things were unlike ....

As if reading his mentation, Dumbledore smiled. `` For the clock time being Harry, I would continue this to yourself. Because of the Kunnskap 's voltage for abuse, only seven were made. We would not want this falling into the untimely handwriting. ``

Harry was taken aback. For once, Dumbledore was actually trusting him with something important. `` T-thanks prof. I 'll look after it. ``

He 'd be damned if he disappointed him.

Dumbledore smiled over his cup. `` I 'm indisputable you will Harry. Do try to use it in private though. When one uses it they tend to look in a enchantment, and I would detest to see what your roommates would do if they stumbled upon you in such a state. And I would know, Mrs. Norris once caught me using this. ``

Harry nearly choked on his biscuit.

The past times fortnight, he realized, had truly been full of surprises.




Thank you SticksN'Stones for the excellent banner !






'' Choose to be not a ware of your surroundings, nor of your experience, but a production of what your marrow tells you the world can be in its all right time of day. ``
~ A.K. Lovell ~



Chapter 18 ~ The mark liveliness Leaves


Tonks threw open the shades, allowing the shining good afternoon light to stream in, filling the room with yellow hue so bright that not even Remus, who was valiantly feigning sleep, could disregard them.

She marched to the side of his bed, throwing open the bed hangings.

'' Get up. '' She clipped, her expression anything but amused.

'' How did you get past the wards ? '' Remus groaned, pulling his pillow over his head so he resembled a burrowing animal.

She contented herself to narrowing her violet eyes. `` flier 's a curse surf. And when he and I have over two weeks with aught to do but break the wards on our stubborn derriere of a supporter 's place we tend to succeed. ``

Remus emitted a low grumbling sound, indecipherable to any homo ear. It was at this point that she decided she had had enough. She ripped the covers from his bed, and flung them out the now open window.

'' Remus did you really think you could stave off us forever ! '' She hollered. `` What the hell is the matter with you ? ``

At his lack of responsiveness she stomped her metrical foot angrily, and began spraying him with water from the tip of her wand.

Remus jerked so violently that he rolled right out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor. He blinked groggily, his face scrunched up and dripping. He looked extremely disgruntled.

'' You look like a sopping wet dog Remus ! Now get your stubborn ass off the floor right now and get ready ! We have an Order encounter in an hr and if you are not there so help me pigeon hawk I will get along back here, wards be damned, and make you descend ! You ca n't avoid us forever ! ``

He groaned unhappily.

She glowered down, deciding to not leave just yet. `` And you know what else Wolfy ? You are the singularly, most selfish individual that I have ever met ! ``

'' Mrmph ... ''

'' Do n't mrmph at me ! '' She practically shouted. `` As if it 's not bad enough for you to stay here, wallowing in self pity for two hebdomad, but you left me to blab to Harry for you ! He deserved to see you there ! Not me ! Instead you hid here away from everyone acting like a baby ! ``

'' Go. Away. '' He interjected moodily.

'' NO I WO N'T ! '' She screeched in a very un-Tonks-like fashion. `` I am FAR from being DONE ! I have n't even started on Kalliandra ! Do you have any estimate how very much she probably needs you right now ? ``

He apparently had found something fascinating underneath the bed, because now he had taken to staring beneath it.

'' She doesn't need me. I nearly got her killed. ``

Tonks stomped again, very near his head. `` You know that was n't your fault Remus ! No one knew what that spell would do ! ``

'' You should go. '' He mumbled morosely. `` I could still flex at any import. ``

Her jaw dropped. `` Is that what this self-induced isolation has been about ? You think your going to deform again ? ''

When he did n't resolve she actually laughed. `` Remus you prat ! You turned within an time of day of being hit with that enchantment ! Do you really think that it could possibly turn you again ? Two calendar week later no less ! ? ``

'' I ca n't chance it .... ''

'' wellspring that 's just too hoot bad Wolfy because your going to. '' She did n't wait for a reaction and marched over to shed open up his W.C.. She grabbed the nigh shirt and threw it at him. `` Now go shower and get dressed. I do n't feature all day and so help oneself me you are going to write to Harry and Kalliandra before we leave ! ``

He could be seen over his bed, fumbling with his shirt. `` When we leave ? Was n't I kicking you out now ? ``

'' I 'd wish to see you try. I 'm not leaving because I do n't feel like fighting with your wards again. '' She paused, and almost as an afterthought added, `` And do n't transfer the subject because you are writing to them ! ``

He shook his head, his shaggy-haired tomentum falling around his center messily. It looked like he had n't showered in days. `` No. If they wanted to babble out to me they would suffer .... ''

'' Would have what ? '' She was far beyond losing her patience at this point. `` Contacted you ? Remus, Kalliandra tried ! That damn pouch watch of yours has been glowing all hebdomad at military headquarters ! We tried sending it back to you but you keep sending it back ! Kalliandra probably thinks your ignoring her by now and Harry ... ''

'' Harry is dependable if I stay away. '' Remus interjected, picking up his wand.

She growled in thwarting and yanked the pocket watch out of her pocket. Mundungus had found it near one of the abruptly children after the attack.

'' Well at to the lowest degree bring this back up Remus. '' She said, placing it on his worn desk. `` I do n't care what you say but she really does call for you. '' She searched him for some sign that he accepted this fact, but he only leaned out the window and summoned his mantle back up.

Watching his hapless movements, she suddenly felt like collapsing.

Remus had been the one she could number on, to carry together for her. Ever since Sothis ...

She could n't abide to guess of it, let alone voice it, but ever since that wretched night she had grown to rely on Remus. She needed him so much it scared her.

It had been his cool, light brown centre she had awoken to in St. Mungos. The healers said he had never left her side. Even then he refused, and took to sleeping on a make-shift cot in the corner or her room. He had claimed it was to not miss the fun of her griping, whenever the healers had poked and prodded her with their wands, but she had known better. He had been worried, and who could blame him when she had never felt worse.

But his comportment had kept her thoughts from straying to Sirius.

She shuddered, remembering how he had found her curled up on her lounge one night that summer, positively balling her eyes out, the few pictures of Sothis she had spread out on her coffee berry table. If only she had stunned Bellatrix when she had had the opportunity ! By Merlin he would still be here !

With a assuredness cup of mocha Remus had sat with her, logically reminding her that hindsight is 20/20, and of the futility of blaming herself.

Catching the SOB was the just matter that could help Sirius now, he had told her. And as an auror, that would be her job. He had told her how she needed to keep together for that.

If he had not shown up when he had, she may have curled up in the nighest, damp broom closet, and not come out boulder clay Christmas.

She had passed out that night, vaguely suspicious that her mocha coffee had been laced with ho-hum firewhiskey. Remus always had claimed that alcoholic drink assuaged the nervousness ....

She had only just realized how grateful she was for the humble vestige of humor he shared with her.

She had grown so used to him always being there, and it had taken Remus'absence seizure to ready her realize how practically he meant to her.

Never again, did she desire to experience another fortnight like the one she had just had without him.

The thought of him wallowing in self shame any prospicient made her physically ill, and she felt her shoal reserves of lastingness folding in.

She had to hold out the urge to run over there and taste him.

She drew herself up, ignoring the painfulness prickling in her chest. `` Harry does want you Remus. '' She started. `` Your all he has left. think how he 'd sense if you shut him off now ? ``

Remus was flipping the pacifier back onto the bed, straightening it meticulously. `` He does n't need me. Neither does Kally. They 'll just roll up harm ... ''

'' Well dam n't Remus ! I need you ! '' She shot out, ignoring his shocked stare. `` Do n't you get that ? I miss you ! And I 'm not the only one ! Harry misses you ! He sent me an owl because you have n't responded to his letters ! I can only take by that batch on your desk that you have n't understand any of them yet ! And you ! You 're just .... ''

She trailed off, foiling effectively silencing that train of thought.

'' Go rain shower. I 'll wait downstairs. ``

She turned in a huff and stormed out, resolving to send Harry and Kalliandra offprint billet demanding that they pester Remus until he broke out of this self-created shell.

She missed the disbelieving oculus of a sure werewolf, following her longingly.
* * *


Harry allowed the Quran to return closed in. His header had hanker since fallen upon the table, his body slumped over in frustration. A G and one wickedness swearing swirled through his mind, their counter swearing eluding his store in a maddening way.

Why, in the name of merlin, had professor Tres been so against teaching them this ?

The sheer enormity of the undertaking before him had hit home nearly an hour before, and the incessant weight on his articulatio humeri seemed determined to crush him now. It was pressing down on his chest, making his psyche spin, the fruition of how little time he had to master this had finally sunk in.

Voldemort could come for those he loved tomorrow, and somehow he doubted the monstrosity 's minions would get to simple jinxes.

For the first time in his animation, he was starting to finger helpless. He had borrowed the book from Dumbledore 's bureau, changing the book binding so no one could know what obscure arts it contained, and after only a few days of report he had come to a realization.

Avada Kedarva was amongst the most merciful of dark curses.

For the iniquity prowess could do so much sorry than simply kill in one blow.

The could burn off you alive from the interior out, your screams confounding those around you, your skin not blackening as unseeable fiery tendrils licked at you hungrily.

By the metre those around you realized ....

help for dupe of the mort ardente would be far too late.

Other scourge could could slice your hide in ho-hum, longsighted slashes. The invisible attack lasting for hours, as medi-wizards and therapist tried to save you, only to catch you succumb as slash after destroying slash undid their healing, spilling your life sentence blood, killing you ...

Others could slowly crush your chest, driving the air from your lungs, suffocating you under the pressure of a dozen hippogriffs ....

He shuddered involuntarily, almost gladiola that death had been speedy and merciful for Sirius and Cedric. He had not known before, but their lives could possess been extinguished in much worse ways ....

The school system of rules had failed them. Harry knew this now. For they had not prepared them adequately for what they might front in the war.

professor Tres had shown him that merely a week ago. Kaylens had been the one to land it up, asking when they would learn the uncollectible of the wickedness humanities themselves.

He had n't been for sure whether to applaud her for her deepness, or curse her for sounding the likes of fanatical Malfoy.

But she had been right ....

If one did not bonk what the curses sounded like, how could they fend for themselves with accurate counter-curses ?

So while her and Malfoy had argued their percentage point, and lost valiantly as Tres started twitching under pressure sensation, he had composed a letter to Dumbledore asking for access to materials about the wickedness nontextual matter.
Dumbledore had granted him that ...

He propped himself on his cubital joint, reopening the ancient, blackened leather text. He was determined to get word every lethal curse the man had to pop the question him.

And before he found Voldemort with them, he would first rule Pettigrew ...

The man who had stolen his life from day one.

Pettigrew would pay. Harry would make him feel all of the pain he had felt ever since his arrival on the Dursley 's doorstep.

Then Pettigrew would die.

Then, once he had seen what the execration did on a lively human, then he would get Voldemort.

The creature was going to pay.
* * * * *


Kalliandra clutched Tonks'alphabetic character in hand and stormed to the foot of the gargoyle.

She had done exactly as Tonks had requested. She had already tried contacting him. She had tried saying, shouting, and cursing his name into that blasted compact of hers, had sent owls armed with letters and orders to smack at his workforce until he replied, and even had sent a self-writing quill with the hold up one so it would write whatever he said down upon receiving it.

That particular owl had had orders to snatch whatever was written before Remus had a luck to kidnap it up himself.

Well apparently Remus had been too spry for the owl, because she had gotten back a broken quill and a ripped, dummy musical composition of paper.

red cent your stubbornness to Hades Remus ! She thought in annoyance, stomping her foot outside Dumbledore 's office.

She had grown so annoyed with him avoiding contact and canceling their tutoring school term that she had finally slipped on Riley 's ringing and tried porthole keying directly to Remus, only that had n't worked either.

Which was precisely why she found herself outside of Dumbledore 's dazed stone gargoyle, shouting every candy that came to mind.

'' peppermint candy ! Bat dung droppings ! Bertie tonic ! Apples ! Peaches ! '' She exclaimed at it, abandoning confect in party favour of fruits. `` Oh damn it to hell ! Peach schnaps ! stunner cobblestone ... ''

The stone gargoyle had sprung to lifespan, allowing her entrance.

'' peach tree schnaps ? You 've got to be kidding me ... '' She muttered, springing up the steps and bursting into his office, being heedful to smell Crusantheus on the way in.

Dumbledore looked up idly from his desk, a bemused construction across his weather condition assume face. `` Why Kalliandra, what a pleasant surprise. ``

She did not agree. `` professor what does Remus reckon he is doing ? '' She demanded, stopping in front of his desk. `` He ca n't quash us forever ! Why does n't my porthole key work anymore ? And why are you now using liquor as your passwords ! ? ``

Dumbledore looked rather puzzled. `` smasher Schnapps ? A John Barleycorn ? And here I thought it was a rather clever form of confect ... ''

Had she not been so worked up she would have rolled her eyes. `` No, it 's not. But why wo n't this work .... '' She held up her gang for effect.

'' Ah, I was wondering when you would ask. '' Dumbledore commented airily. `` Remus requested that your port key be de-activated for the time being. ``

She glowered. `` Did he say why ? ``

'' I am sure you know why Kalliandra. ``

An odd, sinking tactile sensation had wormed it 's way into her stomach. `` Yeah, I think I do. But does n't he understand that it was n't his fault ? ``

'' On some level, yes. But much like somebody else you know ... '' Dumbledore eyed her acutely, leaving no question about who he was referring to. `` He has taken to blaming himself, shoving away those close up to him in order to protect them. ''

She sighed defeatedly. `` So there 's null we can do to lecture some sense into him ? ``

'' I rather think, that this is something he has to derive to accept on his own condition. We can not storm him into realizing that we would rather be near him with all of the risks, than away from him and safe. ``

'' I wish we could ... '' She said sadly.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly, recognizing the satire of her statement. `` You know Kalliandra, in our own way, we are all a danger to those we love, for the simple fact that on-key friends will go to any lengths to facilitate each other, even if that means sacrificing their own animation in telephone exchange for another 's. ``

His parole struck a deep chord within her, one she was not quite quick to take heed. `` Thanks Professor ... '' She muttered, all wrath gone. `` Can you at least throw him this when you see him ? '' She extended a letter to him, it 's addressee version To The Obstinate Wolf.

Dumbledore smiled, `` I 'll see that he gets it. ``
* * * * *


Harry rested his cheek against the worn surface of the board, letting his dank hair drip over his face. The dripping water from his recent shower eased the dull ache that had begun in his scar.

drip mold ....

A beadwork of wax broke free from the glowing candle, falling to gazump into the unsealed ridgepole of the oak desk. The impact sounded cavernous, for his ear remained pressed against the desk 's open, amplifying the sound ten fold.

Across the coarse room, far from where he sheltered in the darkness of a unity candle taper, the fire glowed warmly. respective straggling one-seventh years, no doubt putting in the extra hours for NEWT preparation, remained there, blissfully oblivious to the latterly hour.

sleep would once again, not be his fellow traveller. When his scar ached so sharply, it was in fact the enemy.

Voldemort was there, just beneath the surface of his mind, waiting for a chance to get in as he dreamt. He knew Hermione 's parents were as soundly as dead, but he would not allow Voldemort the entropy he demanded for their suppositious 'release .'

If they were going to die, it would not be in vain.

Fiery shadows danced across his open text, and he wearily rubbed his scar, trying to memorize the sideboard curse for one of the many crushing hexes.

The one he was looking at would push back air from the lungs slowly, till the person could only claw at their neck opening in agony, pedigree vessels in their eyes bursting as oxygen left them.

The opprobrious and white illustration showed a wizard captured in a silent howling, his finger already falling limp around his throat.

He shuddered at the peck, not noticing the regulate expression flitting across her face.

He had never even noticed her studying him, concealed as she was, lying on the floor across the elbow room, warming herself before the fire.

She made her way towards him, making up her mind.

'' Hey Potter. ``

Her vocalization pulled him away from his thoughts, and he swallowed hard, looking up as she slid into the seat before him. She leaned backwards relaxingly, her face falling into the vestige of the corner they sheltered in.

'' Kaylens. '' He said steadily, spirit hammering. Be it at her sudden intermission or the remembering of the dying aspect, he did not know. `` What are you doing here ? '' He slid a hand across the morbid photograph, staring intently at her.

She met his eyes, for the first time in daytime, holding them seriously. `` Talking Potter. Just talking. '' candlelight danced in them ...

His scratch gave a dull Pound, reminding him of his own fragile state. Tonight was not the metre for talking, even with her, whom he had grown curious about. `` You know ... '' He stated carefully, watching her smooth her sleek locks behind her ears. `` There is usually a grounds for why someone sits exonerated across a relatively vacuous room from everyone else. ``

She nodded, a whimsical frown tracing her features. `` Oh ? And what 's that ? ``

'' Their studying. ``

'' Or they want to be left alone. '' She whispered, voicing his unsaid intellection. `` Believe me ceramist, I know your unhappy with me. I would n't bother you if it was n't important. ``

He was thrown. `` I 'm not unhappy with you. '' He said quietly, before he could stop himself. `` I just do n't realise why your so unfriendly. ``

Her eyes danced in the candlelight, her custody playing around the root word of the candle, picking at the solidify wax. `` It 's not important why. I just am. '' She whispered, sounding clearly pained.

He nodded, accepting this. `` If that's the display case, then am I, or am I not, supposed to stay the hell away from you ? ``

She chewed on her crushed lip thoughtfully, fidgeting. `` For someone who seemed eager to peach, your certainly making this difficult. ``

He smiled forcefully at this, probably looking like a grim clown. `` And that has nothing to do with you storming off, then refusing to number within a ten meter vicinity of me ? ``

'' Touché. '' She murmured. `` But this is n't about you or me. It 's about Remus. ``

Her vocalisation held an essence of loss as lupine 's gens fell off her mouth, and for a fleeting second he understood. He did not know how the two knew one another, and felt the stabbing nuisance of betrayal that lupine had kept better communications with her rather than him, his best friend 's son, but in that split second, he knew that his former prof had not spoken to her since that day either.

He felt oddly secure about that. For a change, he was not the only one being ignored, or hold open in the dark.

'' Wo n't answer to any of your letter either then ? '' He queried, knowing the answer.

She shook her head, her haircloth coming loose from where it lay insert behind her ears, falling to lay artfully over her eyes. `` He 's started sending mine back. ''

He felt a small grin tugging at the sharpness of his lips. `` Hedwig is dour. ``

'' An owl ? ``

He grunted in reception, the aching in his scratch was starting to burn slightly.

'' We ca n't just let Remus shut himself off. ``

He jolted forward, dropping his head into his men to cover the painful grimace now crossing his face. `` Funny hearing you say that. '' He groaned as the offset waving of pain in the neck attacked him. `` Because is n't that what your doing ? ``

Through his finger he saw a sharp formula cross her face. `` Do you want me to get Madam Pomfrey ? ''

'' Why .... '' characterization the wall ... .The bricks ... Their rough texture stretching infinitely upwards .... `` Why would I require you to get the nurse ? '' He asked, barely guising the annoyance that was now coming Forth River in waves. She needed to impart. She needed to will now, but not to get the nanny ...

'' Your in pain in the neck ceramist. I 'll be ... ''

Before she could even strike his helping hand had shot out like a lightning bolt, attaching itself to her wrist. `` Do n't get her ... I 'll be fine. '' He hissed lowly, not lament to attract the tending of the seventh years still down there.

An unpleasant sensation swept through him, the tactile property of Kaylens'wrist joint turning barely registered as the dark room spun. He was no longer fully there as his eyes flickered one-half shut, half seeing the wall Dumbledore had taught him to so carefully concept, one-half seeing Kaylens kneeling down besides him.

'' The only way to strengthen your bulwark at this point, is to study to disguise your emotions .... '' Dumbledore 's words came back to him ...

'' Potter ? Potter smell at me. '' Kaylens spoke quickly, an unfamiliar bound to her vocalism. He waved her away, feeling her hands wrapping around his own. She had to pass on ...

Voldemort was prickling at the edges of his visualize wall.

The creature 's part filled his mind, green tendrils leaking through red brick.

Been sssstudying the obscure humanistic discipline I sssssee. It'ssss about time you learrrrned ....

He turned his eyes away from his Holy Scripture, leaning away from Kaylens to slam dance it shut before Voldemort could learn more.

'' Sodding hell thrower of all the prison term ... '' Kaylens murmured. He felt her arm sliding beneath his shoulder, a strange tingle trickling through him as he unconsciously leaned nearer, allowing his consistency to sag against her as she hauled him up.

He rose his eyes, finding her own surprisingly close, flickering with that unfamiliar concern. `` Kaylens leave ... '' He muttered, feeling a violent bound forming within his last lucid idea. He had nearly attacked Ron in a like res publica, under Voldemort 's egging influence ...

Ah compannnnny .... Voldemort sounded almost cheerful, and Harry felt his face unwillingly turning towards her further.

Suddenly it was no longer he who was searching her features.

Interesssstinnnng ....

'' Kaylens ... '' He gasped. `` Get the hell out of here. ``

She grimaced determinedly, kicking open the portraiture door. He heard her shouting something about Pomfrey to someone, but their form was so fuzzy ... He could n't make them out ...

It doessssss n't matterrrrrrr who they arrrrre Harrrrrrry. Who issss sssssssheeeee ....

'' Leave .... '' He groaned, barely shoving the intelligence out. She was dragging him down the hall now ...

'' ceramist I 'm not going anywhere. '' She got out, sounding strained.

It'ssss good to know they have not messssed up assss badly assss believvvvved ....

Who messed up ! ? ! ? He thought, grasping pellucidity, desperate to glean Voldemort 's meaning.

Calling on his concluding ounces of mental reservation he dug his hound into the ground. He turned, squirming away from the reassuring bearing of her arms, suddenly finding his own feet untrustworthy.

He was collapsing to the Harlan Fisk Stone storey, the blowtorch lit halls a magnificent fuzz ...

Whooooo ...

Unable to separate the conflict between speaking and thinking, his mouth opened to yell his own question into the dead of Nox ...

Kaylens deal clamped over his lips, and he found himself breathing in her pelt, dampness with perspiration and the pliable essence of the candle she had been fidgeting with simple moments before.

'' shucks you Potter be quiet ! '' She hissed dangerously.

He struggled dazedly, her chin coming to pillow on his shoulder as she stilled him, delirious hushing sounds escaping her own lips. Had she had a abrasive edge to her ? He could no longer think back ...

Jussssst a epithet Harrrrrrry .... What harrrrm everrrr came frrrrom a gens Harrrry ....

He relaxed, leaning against her again, feeling her branch stiffen. Of class .... It only made sense .... Voldemort would require to know of mortal as fascinating as her, who would n't ? He certainly did, no topic how infuriating she grew he was curious. What hurt could a epithet do ...

'' Kalliandra Kaylens .... '' He murmured druggedly.

'' Glad to see you remember formalities. Now please get up, I 'm not strong enough to drag out ... ''

A jubilant wave washed over him, so intense as to swim out every other news filtering through his auditory system.

Voldemort withdrew as quickly as he came, and he realized, with a sinking touch sensation, that he had just given the Dark Jehovah something he very much wanted, without realizing it.

The feel of Kaylens'paw tugging up on his berm, the feel of her long tomentum brushing against his face as she leaned over him, the dark vestige of the deserted Hogwarts corridor ...

The sanctity of his psyche restored, it all came into unadulterated focal point.

His stage becoming his own again, he powerfully thrust them into the floor on his own accord, scrambling eagerly away, his sudden going away sending her spilling across the cold, dirt dusted stone floors.

He rounded on her downed form, failing to notice her appall construction. One intellection was on his idea. One he had been putting off asking.

'' What does Voldemort want with you ? '' He asked pointedly, the maniac flicker that always accompanied Voldemort 's touch still in his eyes.

She glared up unflinchingly, golden hair limply splayed out across her face. `` So were at this again are we ? '' She whispered, brushing it aside, revealing the steely glint of her own slick magazine orbs.

'' Yes. '' He said seriously, his hand lingering near his wand. `` Yes we are. ``

She pushed herself up, slowly, wincing as she did so. `` Does that really require an result then ? ``

'' Yes. ``

They stared at one another, both expressions unreadable.

Finally, an eternity passing them by, she tilted her head to the side. `` How a lot do you know ? '' She whispered.

'' Enough to acknowledge he was all too felicitous to find out your name tonight. '' He knew the consequences of this, if horrible, would be his to bear. It was not a thinking he cherished, and a role of him almost wished for her to profess into the night her loyalty to the wickedness Lord, so he could shine her down, guilt free.

Yet another, taking in the way her bequeath manus shook ever so slightly, declared him the fool for not going to her to fix what he might have done.

This hold up persuasion was silenced by the way her eyes darkened coldly onto him. `` And you were happy to pay him that entropy. Were n't you Potter ? ``

His own mitt, now balled in fists, shook with suppressed fury at himself for doing so. `` None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me. Why did n't you leave when I told you to ? ``

She shrugged one shoulder, almost testingly, in an out of place mode. `` You looked like you were having a fit Potter. I thought you needed the hospital offstage ... ''

'' Whether I need the hospital wing is none of your care ! '' He hissed angrily, albeit too loudly. mortal was bound to get word, but he did n't care. Let Filch just try and punish him ...

She looked stricken by his Holy Scripture. `` I see. '' She whispered, moving to take the air past him, back towards where the Fat ma'am 's portrait observed in awe horror.

Once again, before he could stop himself, he had her wrist in his hired hand, spinning her around to pin her against the wall. He pressed his body against hers, their faces dangerously close. Her face remained an unreadable masquerade party, save for the beads of sudor glistening upon her forehead in the torchlight.

They stared at one another, each daring the other to speak. Releasing one of her carpus, he moved his hand to rest above her shoulder, cutting off any thought of her escape.

'' I said I understood ceramicist. '' Her breath was barely a whisper, and beneath his palm tree he felt her radiocarpal joint temperature reduction, the cool October air prickling zany swelling across her arms.

'' No ... '' He said quietly. `` I do n't think you do. Not really ... ''

She breathed in deeply, her chest rising to press against his own for the abbreviated of seconds. `` forethought to illuminate me ? ``

He nodded coldly, his moist hair falling to hide his scratch, a disturbing sizzling auditory sensation drawing Kaylens eyes uncomfortably towards it.

Her challenging demeanor vanished, confusion flickering in her eye. Her relieve mitt unconsciously reached upwards, but he stilled her movement by aggressively squeezing her shoulder blade.

'' I would n't ... recommend ... doing ... that ... '' He said coldly, ignoring how she bit her lip, her face clearly contorted in pain. If she could n't take that what in the hell did she plan on doing when Voldemort got to her. He 'd learn her what she was dealing with ...

'' Do you have any idea what your dealing with ? I have a suspicion ... '' He spoke mechanically, as if lecturing a small-scale child. `` That you do not. So I am going to ask you one ... Sir Thomas More ... time. What ... does ... he ... want ... with ... you ? ``

She tilted her head up to his slightly. `` What makes you think that he wants anything with me at all ? ``

He smiled cruelly. `` Let 's just say we have style of chatting. ``

Her eyes instantly narrowed, her eubstance tensing beneath his. `` Are you saying your involved with him ? ''

'' Perceptive ... '' He murmured coldly, leaning in boulder clay her breath breezed across his case. `` But I never said friendly. You on the other hand openly admitted it. ``

'' lie ... '' She spat.

He could no longer secernate if she were glaring or crying, for his forehead was pressed firmly against her own, driving her harder against the wall. Her words lingered on his unshaven chin, and he grimaced wryly, realizing how close he was to finding out the truth.

'' I have tidings for you. '' He whispered. `` You said you would rather be a Death feeder than be like me. So you either are one of his following, or you are clueless as to what a Death Eater is. Now which is it ? ``

Her expression remained unfaltering for far too foresightful for his taste perception.

'' amercement. '' He whispered. `` Here is what I think. I think that you have no clue what one is. Either that, or you are the scoop actress I have ever seen. But for that to be true up, you would either hold to be a Muggle, which you clearly are not, or you would get to get been a hermit from wizarding society. So ... '' He tilted his face down, practically meeting her own.

'' Which one is it ? '' He breathed, tension reverberating in the still hall 's air.

She turned her wrist in the confines of his loose grip, her skin brushing against his own. He could precipitate her reaction, being so close, his middle locked onto hers. She was going to run, it was like feeling what she was feeling ... Fear ...

Suddenly he knew what was occurring, why her body was shuddering ever so slightly in front of his own. He stared into her eyes for a moment longer, allowing his expression to buffer misleadingly.

'' Well if you do n't want to tell me .... '' He murmured, releasing her articulatio radiocarpea before she could make off. She eyed him with surprisal, and mistrust, never seeing his mitt falling to rest upon his wand.

'' Legilimency. '' He whispered.

Her living ... It all flooded his judgment in one over powering wave. A convolution of event that were impossible to tell apart ... Until one scream filled his thinker with a blinding red hue, bringing it all into barren clarity.
'' Riley ! ''


The convolution of double changed, becoming the congruous picture of a blond child, hair much lighter than he knew it would darken to become, was approaching a door, answering it ...

A man smiled toothily down, removing his hat to reveal closely cropped, filthy blond haircloth, bowing slightly. The child smiled upwards, but the trope of his smile froze, faltering, as if it had forever been burned into her memory.

And now his ...

The door flew open, the man 's ft connecting with it, sending it bulleting inwards, hitting her with it against the cheek. Blinding infliction kept her conscious, for the human beings was total darkness be-speckled, and her screaming form fell to land in the front foyer.

The guilt .... Almost overpowering ... She should n't have screamed ... My God if only she had not ...

A golden haired man, only slightly older than they were now, came sliding into the hall. The girl screamed on the base, her broken, bloodied nose rendering her warnings incomprehensible.

The blond haired demon dropped a knee onto the girl 's vertebral column, pinning her to the base. The jiffy of a buck knife drawn from a casing caught Harry 's eye, and the young man, who now bore a look of the level best fury.

'' Wan na go boy ? come here ! ``

The golden haired man was already charging, but the monster had drawn a gun and fired before Riley could even reach her ...

Riley ... My God, Harry thought ...

Her mistake ... The guilt ... If only she had n't screamed.

The girl was bucking on the flooring, screaming, nearly freezing in fear as rakehell pooled from James Whitcomb Riley 's chest lesion, his eighteen year old body twitching spasmodically, his mouth gaping, gasping for breath ...

Yet James Whitcomb Riley had crawled, leaving a smeared trail of reddened destruction on the linoleum story in his backwash, for he had been ineffective to let his little sister be pillaged ...

His dying breath came, the young lady 's middle all-inclusive with repugnance for only her brother, as the dollar knife plunged into young Kaylens', deep into the back of her eight year old berm blade.

Hot, fiery pain intensified, followed by a tingling sensation of the most peculiar variety ...

He could almost feel what she had ... Her berm was tingling, piddling pin pricks attacking her skin as they would when her foundation would inflame up from falling asleep ...

Her hysteric thigh-slapper only intensified, and Harry watched in horror as the colossus gripped her hair, yanking her head back roughly as Harry once himself had done to her, before slamming her face savagely into the linoleum.

'' Were going to consume some fun are n't we fiddling female child ? Are n't we ! ? ! ? ! Just as soon as you shut your bloody mouth and evidence me where that sweet little brother of yours is ... ''

'' Go away ! '' Little Kaylens was screaming her heart out.

In Voldemort 's mind he had seen adults wither in pain and surrender apart at so much less ...

His centre broke as he watched her small form continue struggling, screaming, yet the man only pinned her face down to the floor harder, dragging the buck knife across her shoulder joint in a farsighted, vicious line ...

A swirl of coloration, and he was gone. thrust out not by magic, but by the savage handle someone had taken up on the back of his robe, yanking him away from her. He staggered backwards, disoriented, his arm flailed into the torch bearer ...

His arm was on fire, burning him, the flames licking up his sleeve when someone floored him, dousing him with piddle.

His scorch skin throbbed, but not so very much as his mind.

Kaylens stood motionless, still pressed against the rampart, chalk Stanford White, silent snag streaming down her beautiful face. A ace slender hand was clutching her shoulder. The same one he had grabbed roughly. The same one he had seen stabbed viciously ...

It was as if he were seeing her for the first time.

'' K-kaylens ... '' He whispered shakily, pleadingly.

'' Shut it Harry ! ``

Harry rolled over to see Ron and Hermione, returning from nightly Prefect rounds, glaring hatefully down at him.








'' The dying of one man is a cataclysm. The death of millions is a statistic. ''
~ Chief Joseph Stalin ~



Chapter 19 ~ Le Règne d'Enfer Commence


Once his judgement awakened, his brain dimmed by the drugged wine-coloured he had willfully taken, it was not the darkness, nor his unfamiliar surroundings, nor even the cloaked name patiently waiting besides him that he noticed.

It was the stale air.

He sniffed.

They were coming ...

Just as he had.

It was why he had isolated himself for the past fortnight. From Harry, from Kally, from Tonks ...

Lucius Malfoy had not given up on recruiting him. After all, there were only so many pureblood werewolf.

Two solar day after the incident with Kally and Harry, he had received a blank envelope addressed to him, sealed with the dark Mark.

After reading it 's contents, it 's whirl of safe haven from the cruel, prejudiced Ministry standing in cruel direct contrast to the decease Eater 's own prejudicial opinion, Dumbledore had asked the one thing of him that he had felt unable to do.

He had asked him to view joining them.

He had stayed in isolation, not wanting his affections for Harry, Kally, or Tonks, especially Tonks, to shake his decision.

The early lycanthrope began emerging from the underground corridors surrounding him. Here the paries were lined with bone. femur rising up like sadistic pillar from hell on earth, supporting the long argumentation of skulls outlining the subversive passages. Cool water dripped rhythmically from the dampness cap, wetting his sweating scalp.

There was only one position in the world that flaunted such morbidness. Deep beneath the streets of Paris, over 60 million of a clock time long preceding lay dead. Their frame disassembled, grouped systematically to make walkway, a remnant of a darker time.

Upon drinking the drugged wine, the Death Eater had said he would waken in the Empire of Death. Only now did he see what he had meant.

A heart bod, shaped out of human skulls, lay set into the bulwark of the Paris catacombs besides him. A standing remainder of the macabre sense of humor, stretching endlessly into the darkness.

This was a prefect place of meeting. populace, isolated, and gothic.

Not to mention how winding the corridors were. It was doubtful that anyone would be there to witness their dealings.

'' After our last coming together I must hold that I am surprised to see you here. ``

Lucius Malfoy stepped forth from a shadowed corridor, dropping his hood to give away Patrick White blond hair.

He inclined his head. `` Since then I 've realized how my kind is rewarded for good human activity. '' He replied resolutely.

Lucius gave him an appraising look, before reaching Forth River a cloaked hand to wave the others forward. Half a twelve other cloaked material body emerged from the shadow, forming a circle around him.

'' Who 's the gaunt one ? '' Growled one of them. Remus distinctly saw the glint of fang beneath the hood.

My God ... It is true ....

Voldemort had truly found a way to curb their transformations.

Werewolves could now roam the man at will.

'' The gaunt one ... '' Lucius said sneeringly. `` Is a pathetic apology of a purebred, friend of the potter .... ''

'' Former friend. '' Remus interrupted nastily, snarling for core. `` I 've seen how their sort repays my kind, thinking I 'd betray them because of what I .... ''

'' Spaaaaaare us the speech Hugo Wolf. '' Interrupted the one who had brought him there. `` What we need to get laid is if we can entrust you. ``

'' Of course we ca n't. '' Lucius snarled, threateningly extending his incisors and nails. `` But we can take a leak him one of us. ``

'' If you do n't entrust me how do you plan on accomplishing that ? '' Remus countered, not wanting to sound too eager.

Lucius smiled evilly. `` I 'm so sword lily you asked. '' He withdrew a silver flask from his pocket, tossing it to him.

Remus caught it with his shirt sleeve, uneager to come in impinging with the forbidden metal.

'' Tsk, tsk. Not too trusting are we blood traitor ? '' Lucius chided.

'' Not really. ``

'' It 's platinum. Would n't want to be carrying around something deadly now would we ? Remember, I share the same curse as you. ``

Remus scoffed. `` By choice. ``

'' Ahh .... Still looking at it as a burden rather than the top executive it is ? ``

'' You said you 'd give me a reason to think of it otherwise. ``

'' That I did. Now drink it. '' Malfoy ordered.

He eyed the solid flask distastefully, uncorking it to sniff. `` What 's in it ? ''

The end Eater that had brought him there smirked. `` You drank the other gist without question. ''

Remus shrugged. `` Your not about to kill a voltage ally before you have time to try and sour them now are you ? ``

Lucius laughed. `` Always the conniving one. ''

'' It keeps me alive. ``

'' So. It. Does. '' He said coldly. `` That inwardness ... '' Lucius indicated the flask. `` will assure that you are one of us. But once you drink it, there is no going back. ``

Remus eyed him with distrust. `` import ? ``

'' Meaning that you will get ahead the ability, like most of us here, to transubstantiate at will. The moon will no longer hold it 's power over you. ``

He watched Lucius pacing down the mute corridor, rubbing his pale fingers along the rough off-white. `` And ? ``

Lucius halted. `` Once it 's drunk, you will know what the tasting of human flesh feels like. '' His pallid eyes shone with a homicidal glean. `` They say once you know that, there is no going back. You will hunger it forever. Your precious Mudblood lovers will never take you back once you desire the taste of meat. ``

Remus felt his interior run cold. Now there was a catch neither Dumbledore nor himself had thought of. It was too perfect really. They did n't entrust him, and they would give him something that would hold him lust human flesh so much that he was bound to join their face, regardless of his purpose upon first coming there.

'' I told you. '' Snarled a fair sex 's voice. She must have seen his waver, smelt his fear. `` It was a mistake bringing him here. ``

Remus knew what he had to do. He only hoped his will was impregnable enough to never cave.

He turned to the nameless witch, smirking as evilly as potential. `` The only fault was not seeing what those Ministry shit have kept from me my all life. ``

He felt the air thicken with tension.

'' And what 's that ? '' Nott tiff from besides him.

Remus curled his lips back, tilting the flaskful to his lips, chugging it down. liquid fire flowed through his veins, energizing him, changing his molecular make up ...

A delicious, tantalizing discernment filled his mouth, leaking over his tongue, overwhelming his senses so that he nearly lost himself to it.

Reigning the thirst in, feeling the top executive his kind had always been meant to feel, rather than the annoyance, Remus met their regard, his own teeth elongating. He was as changed as they were now. One of Voldemort 's mutated creatures, even if he were internally against them.

Only now he understood what power it was to be the beast he was, even as his consciousness screamed out the outcome, his hungriness beckoned.

He tilted his psyche back and howled.

Lucius stepped forward, a wolf like maze on his expression. `` Welcome ... ''

'' Brethren. ``
* * * * *


The rain hammered down, darkening the tombstones. A small girl was crouched besides one, sheltering beneath the comforting dispassion of her maven speckled umbrella, her twist flapping lightly in the fart. The resemblance to her mother was striking.

Watching the child kneel, Tonks barely restrained her own tears.

Emily Bothan had just asked her female parent to come home soon. She missed her bedtime fag tales. While she told her mother 's slab of stone this, Emily meticulously arranged, then rearranged, the bloom in the redolence her Fatherhood and her had brought.

mammy only deserved the best.

Emily has said so herself, when she had spent the better part of an time of day searching the flowered boutique, seeking out the arrant arrangement of flag and hydrangeas. Mummies favorites.

Tonks sniffled, allowing the light breeze to inconspicuously dry her eyes.

'' You saved my girl 's life. '' He said, finally speaking. `` And for that, I owe you mine. ``

The thin line of Kenneth Bothan 's backtalk gave away his carefully hidden despair. He was a man of individual mourning.

'' No Mr. prexy, if any ... ''

'' Kenneth. Please. '' He implored, his dark centre never leaving the small-scale descriptor of his daughter. `` If anyone has earned the right to dispense with formalities it is you. ``

Tonks smiled sadly, not agreeing. The fiasco had been entirely her fault. Her own incompetence leading to why his young wife, his heights school ravisher, lay beneath his daughter 's small feet. `` If anything Kenneth, your girl saved mine. She has the bravery of one three prison term her age. ``

'' Like her mother. '' He whispered, looking loving upon his little girl, who was now recanting the effect of her calendar week into the grass.

One day, Tonks realized, the loss would hit Emily. But for right now, she was thankful that the child could still smile for her forefather 's sake.

Because when she looked at Kenneth, she could tell he needed his picayune girl to remain just that. She prayed to God that Emily would never show the scars of what she had gone through.

'' It 's such a ignominy ... '' Kenneth remarked, gesturing to his daughter, drawing her from her thoughts. `` That it takes something like this to happen, before wizards will let somebody have it off of their universe, or of any peril from them. ``

She paused thoughtfully. `` You were a history major. I trust that you are familiar with the Salem hag trials. ''

President Bothan nodded. `` Yes. ``

She smiled ruefully. `` That 's why. Were afraid of what Muggles would do to us. Even we can flow victim to guns. ``

Kenneth Bothan sighed. `` contribution of me understands. But it still saddens me. '' His brow wrinkled, pain in the neck etched in every note. `` All the misapprehension between both our kinds ... Had I only known before hand I would never have let Emily 's party occur. We could have remained inside. My family would have been better protected. ``

'' They still would possess found you. '' She spoke truthfully. `` When the monster we spoke of wants to spite person, he will, no matter what the obstacle or monetary value. ``

Kenneth nodded sadly. `` I suppose I knew that. Hindsight is 20/20. ``

The rainfall was letting up, a soft scent wafting towards them. One that had aught to do with the flower speckling the unfrequented cemetery.

Irises ....

Kenneth tilted his head to the sky, breathing deeply. Sometime in the future, he would swear to Tonks that sometimes, like right then, that he could still smell her favorite flowers in the breeze.

observance him now, Tonks was thankful the Order had granted her and respective other penis permission to stay on with him and his girl as a rotating guard.

They would be needing it.
* * * * *


Harry hung his head over the butterbeer, not hearing a word Luna said. He had tuned her out when she had started talking animatedly about the special variant of the Quibbler that workweek, the one concerning how Cornelius Fudge 's army of Heliopaths had drowned in a nut toilet rising tide accident in the section of Mysteries.

The gentle gong of Melville Bell drew his attention to the door of the Three Broomsticks, just in time to see Kaylens, James Byron Dean, and Neville walk in, their hair's-breadth windswept from the rough out fall cinch that day.

He instantly looked back down into his mug, not wanting to have a repeat of their previous confrontation.

He did n't know what the the pits he had been thinking, violating her like that.

That was just it. He had n't been thinking. He had been suffering the familiar spirit after effects of Voldemort invading his idea, and those included everything from temporary insanity to violence.

Needless to say, forcibly getting the selective information he wanted out of her had seemed like a good mind at the time.

Hermione and Ron had seen the entire matter, turning the niche right as he shoved Kaylens against the bulwark, hissing `` Legilimens ''. Mione had gone on a tirade about their being no excuse for such infringement of personal privateness, and him running after Kaylens'had n't helped.

Particularly when he grabbed her again, desperately trying to block off her, to make her understand that he had not been in his right mind, only to bump out that she had a rather foul right hook.

'' Harry why do n't you just apologize. ``

Luna 's voice got through to him, and he turned a startled face to her. `` What do you think of ? '' He asked, feigning stupidity.

Luna smiled, looking at something just over his fountainhead intently. `` If you like her, apologize. It 's as simple as that. ``

His jaw dropped, flabbergasted. `` What ! ? '' Embarrassed by the odd stares they were now receiving from his outcry, he lowered his voice. `` Luna I do n't care her. I just feel bad becau ... Wait a minute ? How did you know I had something to apologise for ? ''

Luna 's look changed, her normally dreamy kisser gone, if only for a second base. She looked like she was about to lecture a small child. `` Every time we 've seen her recently she has n't glared, she just pretends your not there. She stated simply. `` Before you both took every luck to be at each others throats. ''

Luna 's dreamy demeanor returned, and she opened her purse, withdrawing a lime light-green stalk. `` Plus she just walked in, and now your staring into your butterbeer. You used to observe her you know. Or did n't you ? '' She looked up, puzzlement gracing her cheek. `` With you it 's voiceless to distinguish what you are or are not cognizant of. ``

Before Harry even had a luck to marvel at her profundity, Luna had begun asking what kind of encomium a Heliopath would like at it 's funeral.

'' I wonder if their flaming go out when they die ? If not then their sepulture methods would give to differ from our own, since they would burn right through their jewel casket ... ''

'' I guess you 'll have to get a hold of one of their bodies to find out. '' He commented cynically.

Luna looked scandalized. Indeed, she was shaking her yearn, colly blond hair with such zip that it knocked over her drunkenness. She did n't look to notice.

'' Oh no Harry. '' She said very seriously. `` Daddy would never disrespect one of their physical structure. Just because their a different specie does n't mean they should be less entitled to proper lamentation. ''

He was so distracted by the absurd turn of conversation that he failed to remark Ginny until she dropped down next to Luna, grinning from ear to ear.

'' So Harry, I heard Ron gave you detention. '' She commented mischievously, giving Luna a quick one armed hug. `` Shocking is n't it ? Considering how he 's never exactly been the modeling Prefect. ``

Harry nodded miserably, longing for a return to the Heliopath conversation. Anything was advantageously than talking about this again.

Luna nodded absentmindedly. `` Harry was just thinking of apologizing to that ... Well what would you call her pilus colour ? '' Luna seemed to ponder this for a irregular before shaking out her own dirty blonde mane. `` XIV carat I suppose. But I think Harry 's having a hard time getting up the mettle to tattle to her. ``

Harry gaped. Since when had he been considering doing that ? And her hair's-breadth was favourable, not ...

He suddenly realized what he had been arguing with himself about, and hung his head.

Ginny shot him a sympathetic look. `` Ca n't say I blame you. How 's the eye by the way ? ``

His headland shot back up instantly. Was there anyone who did n't know about that ?

'' Do n't worry Harry. The just single who know are us three, Kally, Dean, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Seamus. '' Ginny said, ticking them off her fingers. `` No one would receive found out if that git of a pal of mine had n't blabbed. ``

Harry fought the urge to kick back something.

The table leg was saved by Seamus'arrival. He had been getting butterbeer for himself and Ginny. `` Heya Harry. ''

He grunted in response.

Seamus chuckled, brushing his sandy belt from his eyes. `` Heard Kaylens decked yaaaRH ! ``

Seamus'call of pain was preceded by a loud THUNK from beneath the table, and a scolding look from Ginny.

His Irish housemate was rubbing his shin rigorously. `` Sorry ... Could n't resist ya know ? Dean and I have had this running percentage point arrangement between you twooOW ! will you stop that Ginny ! ? ``

Harry shot her a grateful look, to which she inclined her smirking nous.

By this head Luna 's ever-present dreamy look had once again fell, for she was clutching her venter with laugh, pounding a fist on the table, making quite a scene as she ceased to restrain her laughter.

'' So gladiola my sprightliness 's entertained everyone this week ... '' He muttered hollowly.

He spent the rest of the conversation sneaking surreptitious look across the relatively empty pub at Kaylens. Dean and Neville seemed to be debating something, and he thought he caught the speech 'bloody thesteral'more than once, while Kaylens stirred her butterbeer, sipping it through a stalk like Luna, looking for all the world as if she were not listening to a single tidings her comrade were saying.

He jumped, clearly startled when Ginny leaned down adjacent to him, balancing on his shoulder. He had n't even noticed Seamus get up.

'' I 'm not sure what 's going on between you and Ron, but the git will come around, and everything will be okay. '' She said this so quietly only he heard. `` Just commemorate, I 'm not just his slight babe, I 'm yours too. ``

She squeezed his shoulder lightly, re-joining Seamus, where he patiently had been waiting several pes away, just far enough to have given her the privacy she had requested.

She linked implements of war with Finnigan, and a fond feel billowed up inside him at her reassuring words. She was right, maybe not right now, but when this was all over matter would be okay.

He watched her flash over her shoulder before sauntering out into the blistering idle words, her red hair swirling around like a wild tornado.

He smiled stupidly.

He had a little sister .... Regardless of what Ron currently thought.

The intellection was comforting, and he hailed madam Rosmereta 's new waitress, a small, happy looking brunette, over.

There was nothing he could or would do about Ron and Hermione. At least not proper now.

But a new resolve to fix the things he had legitimately screwed up had been awakened. It would be hard, and he would probably nose up getting decked again, but it was deserving a stroke.

Luna smiled knowingly, humming Weasley is our King far too loudly for anyone 's taste but his. Except at the moment he thought it should be more along the business line of Weasley is our Queen.
* * * * *


Drip.

A single droplet, clinging to the earthen ceiling of the catacomb, broke free.

'' It 's metre. ''

Plunk.

Remus caught the raw slab of nitty-gritty that was thrown his way, not sickened as the four other werewolves with him dug in, watery stock dripping down their humanoid chins.

'' Dig in wolf boy. You 're going to need your intensity for this. '' Nott chided.

He eyed Nott with antipathy. He preferred Wolfy, only from Tonks'lips.

He let her name fade, giving in to the irresistible craving he had been fighting since aurora. Ever since he had drank that cursed potion ...

It was a craving for bloodline that would not go away, and for the dozenth sentence that day, he extended his eyetooth fangs.

Only now he was using them to tear the proffered flesh, instead of just practicing his shift, hoping Dumbledore could concoct a curative for this horrid craving he would now dish out with.

His eyes rolled smutty, the pleasurable taste consuming him

For a minute, the lone thing that mattered was the kernel in helping hand. The sentiment of protecting the innocent later on, forgotten.

Drip.

Now the blood dripped from his mouth as well.
* * * * *


Kally sighed exhaustedly, wishing for the solitude of her dorm room. At least there she could kick and scream, venting without the prying eyes of others following her every move, as ceramicist seemed to be doing from his buns in the shadowy derriere of the pub.

potter was not mortal she wanted to think about right now though.

She relaxed, allowing her elbows to prop herself up. She cast a glance resolutely down the bar 's counter, stirring her straw around in her empty, bear-sized, mug. It was a nervous habit she had picked up as a shaver, when she used to bend them into random form. It had always been her brother 's biggest pet peeve.

'' Ca n't take you anywhere .... '' Sean smirked, tousling her hair.

She swatted him away, glad to hinder him in presence of his friends.

A astute nudge caused her elbow to slip, freeing her from that line of thought. She cast an annoyed look at her housemate, ignoring the shot pain the sudden jarring had sent up her forget arm.

'' The physical mark, the nervus damage ... They are the least of your children 's concern Mr. And Mrs Kaylens ... ''

Dean was grinning lopsidedly back, ignorant to where her thoughts had been, taking her back nearly a decade. They had n't known she was listening when they had spoken to the hospital 's psychiatrist. But in their defense, her anesthesia had been heavy.

They had not been expected her to be waking up so soon.

'' You look like your off in your own little world there Kaylens. I did n't hang back you forcibly out of the palace for nothing today, so being a mute will just not do. '' Dean said cockily.

If potential, Dean 's grin had grown even more crooked with his Book.

The resemblance his smile had to Sean 's was striking.

Perhaps that was why she put up with him, while she distanced herself from all others, deliver for Remus. James Dean was not Sean, but just seeing such similarity in another man was oddly comforting. It did not hurt like she had expected it to.

Seeing him looking at her expectantly, she shrugged, knowing entire well he was about to start prodding Neville. James Byron Dean was somebody who seemed to think that it was his personal mission to make everyone around him laugh, and her stony silence was probably pushing him to the brink of insanity.

'' Well look at this Nev. '' He commented predictably, nudging Neville so hard that the poor boy almost fell from his stool. `` We 've got ourselves a deaf-and-dumb person. I guess that means she ca n't back talking now can sh ... ''

'' Do n't even try it Lowell Jackson Thomas. '' She shot out, feeling the turning point of her rim tugging up at his pertinacity. Not only had he been crying about her needing to chaffer, but he had adamantly refused to leave the palace for this 'so-called'day of freedom in Hogsmeade, without her.

How Dean had convinced'I'm-Afraid-of-My-Shadow'Neville to help in that try was beyond her.

In the end, she had gotten nauseous of James Byron Dean 's persistence and given in.

The counter vibrated as the trinity Broomsticks'waitress magicked three butterbeers to them with a flashy thud. The liquid frothed a bit around the edges.

espial their inquiring looks the young witch flashed a dazzling, dimpled smile. `` Courtesy of the gentlemen in the back. ''

She eyed the new butterbeer with a unplumbed horse sense of distrust, before exchanging coup d'oeil with Neville and Dean. She spun around on the bar BM, catching great deal of the only frequenter still in the binding of the pub.

No sodding way in inferno did he send us this .... She thought with no small measure of anger.

After what he had done, any gesture of this sort was insulting.

She snatched up the butterbeer roughly, storming away from the galvanise Gryffindors towards Potter.

Best to get this over with ...

She came to an precipitous check in front of him, slamming the mug down so hard that the liquid sloshed over the face, joining the already pooling puddle on his table.

'' What exactly do you recollect you 're doing ? '' She asked angrily, not bothering to maintain the contempt from her voice.

The girl with him smiled dazedly, humming some unrecognizable strain, and Kally suppressed the urge to stare her down. But the most maddening thing was ceramicist himself.

He looked rather please, though she could not deduce why, since she was within half an inch of using the lonesome hex she was adequate to of on him.

'' buying you a potable. '' He replied steadily, wiping at the jam she had made with a spare napkin.

'' Oh ? '' She quipped sarcastically. `` And why 's that ? So you could lace it with truth serum and question me in that dusky pub down the street ? I must admit ceramist, if that's the case you 're losing your mite. ''

She leaned down till their faces were grade, using the table for balance. `` After all ... '' She hissed quietly, ignoring the blonde 's expression. `` Why drug someone for information when you can just hex it out of them. ``

Potter continued wiping at the table, unable to meet her eyes.

'' SLAM ! ``

Kally jumped ever so slightly, ignoring Potter 's amused expression. She turned an eye on the blonde, who had just slammed her hands down on the mesa top like an excited four year old. The girl 's protrubent blue eyes were now so wide they looked fix to pop out of her skull.

'' Harry you would n't mind if I excused myself would you ? '' She said excitedly. `` All this tensity could draw an Ira, and I want to be in the best spot to see one. ``

Without waiting for an resolution the little girl stood, not noticing their identical look of befuddlement, and began shoving spare straw into her linden green handbag, speechmaking in a far off representative.

'' You can only see one in your peripheral device vision you know. It 's why daddy has n't gotten a good impression of one yet, but I 'd so sleep together to see one ... ''

The girl marched off to the other incline of the pub, turned to present the wall, and stared blankly at it. Kally caught a few glimpses of pale blue eyes flickering their way, and each time this would happen the blonde lady friend would grunt unhappily, stump her foot, and take up staring at the wooden siding as if frustrated.

What the underworld was that abo ...

'' Look Kaylens ... ''

His intrusion brought her cover to the situation at hand, and she narrowed her center shrewdly. `` Ah your famous line. '' She whispered harshly. `` So which personality do I get today potter ? Because really, this tear personality thing is getting to be a bit of a headache. ``

ceramist 's eyes rose, meeting her own in a way she had thought the Noel Coward incapable of, and for a s his delight facial expression faltered. He blinked oddly, drawing in a deep, audible breather. `` Kaylens ... '' He said quietly. `` I tried to justify for that once already, and it 's a bit hard to explain, but I was n't exactly myself when I did tha ... ''

Her eyes widened considerably. `` Did it ever occur to you, in that thick skull of yours, that I might not give a darn whether you apologized or not ? ``

His expression fell, the damp table napkin dropping with an audible clunk. `` After you stormed off that day by the lake, actually, yes. It did happen to me. ``

reliance him to bring that up, she thought angrily, warm to push back the revolt of shame within herself.

She swallowed hard. `` gladiola to see your not quite that unmindful thrower. '' She muttered, forcing her vocalism icy. `` I would recall by now that any invent apologia would be a mute stop. ``

She felt more than heard him drawing in a deep, frustrated hint. Jut like she felt, Sir Thomas More than saw him leaning closer to where she stood. `` I was n't lying to you when I said I was sorry for all of those former things Kaylens. ``

He spoke so seriously, too seriously for someone their age. `` And I did n't even get the chance to excuse for the other night ... '' He continued, his disco biscuit 's apple rising rhythmically. `` Since I did n't fancy getting decked again, I figured sending you a drink was the best excuse I could come up with on short notice. At to the lowest degree the advantageously one that could hold back me a safe distance away, while getting you to make out over here. ''

She arched an brow disbelievingly, eyeing the mug a bit too carefully. `` Oh ? So you thought buying me a drinking would ready up for that then ? '' She mused allowed.

He began to escape from his head word in the negative but she cut him off, the fully weightiness of his insulting, woefully short gesture sinking in.

'' Will you just sit with me so I can try and expla .... ''

Impulsively she snatched up the mug, expelling it 's content all over him, a sopping, frothing quite a little now staining the front of his shirt.

'' That's what I think of your poor apologia. '' She muttered shakily. `` Enjoy. ``
* * * * *


Harry sat there sputtering. Of all the fashion he had seen that possibly playing out, this had not been one of them.

Sitting there, stunned and sopping wet, he felt too shocked to respond effectively.

Instead his oculus fell upon her delicate left hired hand, hanging limply at her side.

It was shaking.

inside he felt a frightful, twisting sensation, recalling precisely why her hand shook thus. How could he give failed to notice before ?

'' That's what I think of your pathetic apologia. '' Kaylens snapped shakily. `` Enjoy. ``

His sassing flapped wordlessly, his Christian Bible never reaching her ears, for Madame Rosmerta 's alarmed cry stole the dustup from his lips.

'' Lara what are yo.. '' Rosmerta questioned shrilly. Her eyes were fixated in confusion upon the young waitress, the friendly one from whom he had ordered beverage earlier.

The same dimpled girl now had her scepter drawn, a blank facial expression drawn upon her features, striking a horrifying similarity to a porcelain doll.

'' Stupefy ! '' She hissed mechanically.

As if in slow movement, Rosmerta fell, her limp form disappearing behind the bar 's wooden counter. The crank she had been cleaning took flight, hovering in mid-air for a small eternity, before breaking free of it 's spiritual suspension, shattering across the counter.

For the start time in it 's chronicle, the ternion broom handle fell silent. Only the howling of the October wind, leaking in through the window, proved to him that he had not fallen into some terrible soundless pic.

The gentle chiming of bells broke his attending from where the porcelain girl stood, smiling cruelly down.

Ginny Weasley, floated slowly in, professor Très following closely, their movements oddly halting.

time of day seemed to birth passed, but the clock registered mere seconds.

beholding Ginny 's wand haltingly rise, her movements faltering, as if some invisible force were yanking her arm forcibly up against her will, was what finally broke him free of his wearisome motion air castle.

His blood ran cold at her blank expression.

'' EVERYBODY DOWN ! '' He shouted, overturning the table. Liquid splattered, and their discharge clay chump had not even struck ground before the initiative jet bane flew from Ginny 's sceptre.

His own already drawn, he screamed a stunner, watching the killing curse young woman Ron 's dismayed face by inches.

Ginny face stepped easily, and Professor Très turned an eerie eye upon him.

'' Kaylens move ! '' He hollered, but she did not need telling twice. She was already dropping down, covering her head as a slew of wooden sherd whizzed by, an barrage from the now smoldering chair before her.

A lulu grazed his ear, and his consistence jerked instinctively away from the heating, and in that undivided second he lost sight of her.

Somewhere in the dim background of his mind the screams of the former patrons began to register.

Less than a pes away from where he stood, a decorative pumpkin exploded, a poorly aimed looker searing right through it, striking the wall. Stringy orange pulp and seminal fluid erupted, hurtling outwards, covering the base and himself with slippery orange clumps.

A red light flew from Très'wand, and he dove to the terra firma, sheltering behind the table as the swearing blasted through it. The shriek of former students could be heard, pleading with the denial Professor.

Très could not hear their plea, with his ear length hair flung over his eyes, his arm jerkily fired blindly at pupil, patrons, people ...

Grabbing the incline of the overturned, turn board, Harry heaved it to the slope, rolling it with all his strong point, scrambling behind it like a rat until it hunkered to a stay. ineffective to go any farther, for an unconscious body now blocked it 's progress, he found the entrance to the bar in sight.

It ran the length of the pub, and Ginny and Très'spine were now to it. If he could just get behind it he 'd let dependable cover until he was right on them ...

He dove for it, leaving the cover of his table behind, rolling across broken chair stage and shabu until he came to a bend behind it.

The waitress was hiding behind it as well, firing cuss over the counter.

'' Stupefy ! '' He whispered, letting the red light fly.

Her body went careening to the side, her wand flung from her clasp as she passed out next to Rosmerta 's limp form.

He scampered down the length of it, snatching both their wands up, passing wine feeding bottle, clean mugs, and storage domain as he went.

Reaching the end near the refinement covered windows, he hastily pocketed the wands in his trousers, leaping to his feet, the disarming magical spell partially formed on his lips.

His words died there.

The jet of greenness light erupted from Ginny 's sceptre like a volcano of death, LE than an arm 's distance from where he stood.

Across the room Ron leapt to his feet, abandoning the temp tax shelter of a bring down bench to dash to where Hermione and Luna fought unaided.

There was no clip to think, to circumvent, to oppose.

The Green River light hit Ron mid-stride, flinging his body backwards against the wall.

Hermione 's brown eyes widened, her oral fissure caught in a smother, dumb plaint, and Luna only just pulled her to the ground before the succeeding green spell whizzed by.

Time froze.

All was still.

The blank feel of the Imperious whammy faltered upon Ginny Weasley 's nerve, unabashed pain replacing it for but a second.

The masque was re-erected, his own baton turning to her, tears of anger streaming down his face at what had been just done to the only brother and sisters he had ever had.

Before the disarming spell could leave his mouth, a intemperately clenched fist collided with his skull, sending the humanity blurring until it 's infernal glory faded to black.
* * * * *


The sound of small feet, pattering in the rain, accompanied Emily 's return. The sound of her pipe down humming lingered like a breathing spell of fresh air upon Tonks'ears.

The low tiddler stepped out onto the pebbled path, quickly shutting her tiny umbrella before scurrying to huddle to a lower place Tonks'.

Tonks smiled uncertainly as Emily 's bantam script interlaced with her own. Why Emily was choosing the comfort of her, a stranger, over that of her forefather was puzzling to her. Kenneth would later on smile, informing her that she had a lot to learn about how tyke think.

But for now, Kenneth gave her a modest, ail smile, before setting off across the soggy cemetery grass.

She had been right, he was a man of private mourning.

She adjusted the umbrella so the runoff would not drip onto the small princess'top dog, never noticing the heedful look that suddenly passed across Emily 's petite face.

Feeling the insistent tugging on her arm she looked down, two pocket-size browned eyes meeting her own. Emily looked rather pensive.

As Tonks inwardly wondered what one should say to a nestling who has just lost her mother, Emily spoke.

'' Your friends are in trouble Nymph. ``



Le Règne d'Enfer Commence is Daniel Chester French for The Reign of Hell Begins

Recommended Stories of the Week :

Never Tickle a sleeping flying dragon by Edward II Ollivander ( He has a fabulous and creative 6th year fan fiction featuring a HP/GW conjugation, and it is completed. )

nighttime propensity by Two Sadists ( They have a 7th year fan fiction featuring a HP/OC union. )

Photograph couresty of the previously mentioned populace world website. Accreditations can be found via my personal website.






disavowal : All characters, place, and melodic theme taken from the Harry Potter book series are property of JKR. However, the idea of a range is owned by me, since I have taken the musical theme of a Reach from a series that I am writing, and adapted it ever so slightly to fit this fan-fiction serial.






'' Some believe that the welfare of decease, is that it is possible to see farther on the other English. ``
~ A.K. Lovell ~



Chapter 20 ~ Nowhere to Run


'' Tonksie are you okay ? ''

Emily 's sweetness voice carried upon the tip, nearly drowned out by the strait of rain pounding upon the umbrella.

She could only shake her top dog, shaken as a cool breeze swirled around them. Thankfully such subtleties of expression were lost upon the child, who 's head was tilted back, her mouth all-embracing exposed, catching rain drops.

'' The waaaateeer 's driiiippiiiing on meeee. '' Emily gurgled gaily.

Tonks shivered, straightening out the umbrella she had unknowingly allowed to wobble. It had hung so low that a sudden cascade of water had fallen down like capital of Seychelles Falls onto Young Emily 's head.

'' Sorry Em ... '' She gasped out, her voice wavering.

'' It 's sanction I like the rainfall. '' Emily declared, darting out from beneath the umbrella, stomping her infantry merrily in the collecting puddles. `` I like pool too ! ``

Tonks blinked in surprise. The kid 's mother had been drowned in one barely a fortnight ago.

'' Your admirer are in trouble houri. ``

Emily 's sopping wet tress swung about her face, her limb held out as she spun in circles, her nous tilted skyward catching the rain.

'' Tonksie come play ! ``

Tonksie ... Only Remus called her Nymph.

'' My God ... '' She whispered, her body temperature dropping in a way that had nothing to do with the wind.

Over Emily 's twirling physical body she could see Kenneth Bothan kneeling in the swampy burial ground Gunter Wilhelm Grass. His wife 's grave lay before him, the carefully placed iris scattering in the overweight wind.

'' Kenneth ! We have to leave here now ! ``
* * * * *


Remus'ovular eyes opened upon the worst of sights.

Hogsmeade ...

It 's empty locale lay before him, dead leave of absence billowing across the dusty pathway leading through the heart of the village.

Not a soul was in sight.

Ghost Town ...

It was here Nott and the others had spoken of. It was here the recruiting had been done. It was here where the Death eater would hit their inaugural stall. Here in the village, so close to the schooltime ...

Too close.

It was a Hogsmeade weekend.

'' Merlin ... '' He whispered, staggering, the October duck soup biting chilly personal credit line across his skin.

Werewolves had no use for article of clothing.

Roughly, an uncase forearm scratched across his mentum. Flecks of dry out rakehell flaked away, sprinkling the priming with a sinister looking dust. It 's morbidity was a stark admonisher of his recently fulfilled thirst.

'' Surprised half-breed ? ``

Instinctually, angrily, his claws extended, breaking his skin with a fiery painfulness. He did not answer Nott, instead he growled lowly, extending his pinna into long points.

The fuzz germination, prickling his pointed ears, brought the deathly quiet village to life. Farther off ... In the fondness of town .... Pleas ... .. Offers of salvation in exchange for allegiances ... ..

'' That fool of an old man will never know what hit him. '' Nott 's croaky vocalization was flooded inscrutable with hate. `` Well be here and gone before he even gets out his pedestrian. ``

Not if I can help it ...

Lucius'indecipherable growl cut in, breaking through his angry thoughts, arousing something far darker ...

It was time to change.

An abnormal passion filled his veins.

Upon the primer where Remus lupin had been, now stood a werewolf, the pungent aroma of freshly spilled blood inundating it 's sense.

The wolf pawed the background eagerly.
* * * * *


His body, felt like it was being drug across glass. It ached, splintering as individual shards sliced his skin.

Shards .... fragment ... He tried to savvy onto the Bible to no avail. It 's problematic meaning fled from his pounding skull.

The tight clutches on his ankles disappeared, and his human foot dropped unceremoniously to the floor. A moment later the sound reflection in the story display board indicated another physical structure being dumped besides him.

Ron ...

With a jerky he was awake, the salty tears of anguish tainting his lips.

It could n't be real. It could n't have happened. Not again ...

He turned his drumhead in a vain hunt, struggling to progress to sense of the obscure world before him. A flash of the palest of yellow caught his eye.

Drifting in and out of focus was Luna Lovegood, sitting hybrid legged, her radiocarpal joint tightly bound within her lap, languorous gentle oculus fixated upon him concernedly.

'' Why hi Harry. '' She said congenially.

Just thinking sent a keen pounding through his skull, and he quickly discovered his arms to be bound behind his dorsum.

With a frustrated thump he hit his hand against the floor, a stabbing nuisance ripping his fist.

He did not take Luna 's promulgation to sleep together that a shard of glassful now stuck from his handwriting. The warmth welling from it, trickling down his fingertips, was enough to inform him.

A single crimson free fall fell free, it 's legal reverberating through his excavate chest.

Drip.

The suffocating exercising weight of despair struck him concentrated, paralyzing him.

Drip.

Ron was gone.

Drip.

Ginny 's unwilling hands had done the unthinkable.

Drip.

end Eaters were in Hogsmeade.

Drip.

A suffocate sob shattered the silence.

Drip.

His fist snapped shut, tugging at the bindings. His eyes, blurred with craze, searched the ruined pub, taking it in with insensate calculation.

Drip.

The story now resembled a greenhouse, a shattered plant holder had sent soil strewing across it.

Drip.

Butter beer and other intermixture pooled together in frothy puddles, broken chairperson and overturned tables creating risky paths.

dribble.

Broken drinking glass glittered in the afternoon sunlight, casting surreal spectrums across the floor.

Drip.

He squeezed his fist, the bloodline flowing down, and began counting.

Drip.

In the distance where neither glass nor grease lay, patrons did.

Drip.

Half a 12, either unconscious mind or dead, lay upon the floor at scattered separation.

Drip.

The rest, the witting, had been bound and lined up against the walls.

Drip.

'' poor fish crying Mudblood ! ``

Hermione ...

She lay collapsed against the far rampart, her arms bound like his own.

Drip.

Before her towered a spout figure clad in black, and clenched within the cruel confines of the Death eater 's fist trailed long ignition lock of bushy hair.

A tumid bruise ran the distance of her tear stained cheek.

'' I should receive finished the job when I had the chance you filth. '' Scowled the Death feeder, throwing back his hood.

His breath caught in his throat.

Dolohov.

The image of Hermione 's limp form in the department of mystery flashed through his mind. She had nearly died at Dolohov 's deal ...

'' What do you mean here Ludovic ? Should I end up her off ? '' The expiry eater called out, kneeling in straw man of her. `` Or what about you Mudblood ? Care to join your worthless red-headed ally over there ? '' Dolohov chided, poking her like a bullet with the end of his wand.

Hermione 's sparkling eyes met Dolohov 's unflinchingly, her lips curling back to expectoration in his face.

He recoiled, a flavor of the virtuous revulsion over-sweeping his wasted feature of speech. `` Oh you filthy ... '' He muttered, frantically wiping his face in the folding of his cloak.

'' Hey Antonin ! '' An overly cheery interpreter called out, stopping Dolohov 's hand mid-strike. `` Since were only supposed to watch the kiddies until He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gets back, what do you recall of ... ''

Dolohov whorled on the cloaked build, who had just emerged from behind the bar, waving a salvaged firewhiskey bottle.

'' Ludovic he is our Lord and shall be addressed as such ! '' Dolohov roared dangerously. `` One Sir Thomas More slip and I 'll make certainly the Mudblood lover is n't the solely corpse in here ! ''

Ludovic appeared unconcerned, and began filling two whisky meth. `` Antonin what you need is a expert, smashed drunkenness. ''

Dolohov scowled, quickly aiming a powerful boot to Hermione 's midsection. The snap of her rib echoed between the pub 's rampart, as did Harry and Neville 's cries of protest.

'' Now Antonin was that really requirement ? '' Ludovic asked nervously.

Dolohov turned, his baton raised threateningly. `` One. More. Word. Ludovic. Just. One. ``

Ludovic raised his hands in a conciliative fashion, knocking his hood from his face in the cognitive operation.

'' Now Dolohov she 's just a girl. All I was saying is tha .... '' But the rest of his words were lost upon Harry, for beneath the vise of the dark hood was the boyish fount of Ludo Bagman.
* * * * *


Kenneth Bothan 's head shot up, while Tonks ran forward, wrapping a protective arm around Emily. The fallen umbrella lay forgotten, spinning in concentric circles upon the pebbled ground, a toy of the billowing wind.

'' Kenneth we should forget ! '' She cried, hoisting Emily into her weapon system.

Her barely concealed importunity rang lawful within the president 's ears, for he was already sprinting back to where they stood.

He was a man who understood the mankind 's dangers.

Emily squirmed, her auburn headspring following her Church Father 's progress towards them. `` Daddy, your knees are all muddy. '' She scolded seriously.

Kenneth smiled grimly, his jaw set. `` I can take her. ''

Tonks nodded, relinquishing the little girl to withdraw her sceptre. The ever-increasing chill was closing in. It would n't be long ...

'' What 's going on ? '' Kenneth asked urgently.

'' No fourth dimension to explain. '' She responded, taking off down the path. She could hear Kenneth 's impenetrable footstep behind her, splashing in the muddied water.

They rounded the crook in the pathway, the heavy grove of tree diagram falling away to reveal the dismal lot. The car, their escape, was in sight, yet punishing despair drenched her soul.

Nymphadora 's feet slid in the gravely mud, and she came to a check, throwing out an arm out to check what was left of the Bothan family.

It was right then that piddling Emily Bothan began to whimper.

Kenneth 's dark eyes quickly blinked away water. `` Tonks what 's thi ... ''

'' dada we need to run. Please pop run. '' Emily was pleading hysterically, her fount buried into Kenneth 's shoulder.

Staring ahead at the looming figures, Tonks could only didder her caput.

'' I do n't remember we have time to run. ``
* * * * *


'' YOU ! ''

Ludo Bagman 's bluish eyes turned on him, a pleased smile replacing his previously perplexed one. `` Ah ... Harry boy. I was wondering when you 'd arrive around. ``

Dolohov scoffed. `` preciously Potter indeed. Tell me ceramicist, how was your wittle crisp ? ``

'' So say me Harry, '' Ludo interjected, seeming determined to steer the conversation his way. `` How experience thing been ? ''

'' Yes wittle Potter. How have things been without that mangy old dog of yours ? ``

'' Antonin .... '' Ludo sounded distinctly uncomfortable.

In the upstage background he could hear Neville 's congest stuttering.

'' H-how have they been ? '' Harry repeated, dumbfounded. How have they been ! ?

'' Not too sound Mr. commercial traveller. '' Luna 's misty voice drifted out, answering for him as he gaped like a fish. `` Harry 's been having a raspy year, as you can see. ``

A pitiless snort came from Dolhov 's direction.

'' He lost his godfather, and with masses such as yourself switching face and betraying him, I trust you can see why. '' Luna continued casually.

traveling salesman was suddenly refilling his drink.

'' After all, Harry does n't want anyone else to die, and when people he trusts start killing people ... ''

Bagman 's glass stopped halfway to his lip, optic widening defensively. It was a moment before his calm returned.

'' Now I 've never actually killed anyone per say young lady .... ''

'' Lovegood. '' She supplied.

'' Lovegood. '' He continued. `` It 's just that .... ''

A foreign calm had overtaken him, the slight palpitation of his own hands lost upon him. `` It 's just that your content with allowing others to do it for you. '' He said disdainfully. `` Your cognitive content with being a coward, with siding with what is easy rather than what is rightfulness. ``

Bagman eyed him apprehensively, swallowing hard. `` Now Harry, you know how the Ministry is. '' He began imploringly. `` They never support anyone but themselves ... ''

'' At to the lowest degree they do n't kill anyone ! '' Harry bellowed, weapon shaking with conquer fury.

'' But Harry j-just think about this for a s-second. He-Who-Must-Not ... I mean my Godhead .... '' He quickly corrected himself, spying the malevolent face of Dolohov. `` He just desires the Ministry 's downfall. So long as mass stay out of his way no one will get hurt. Now I ask you Harry, my boy, is that really so bad ? ``

'' Replacing one dictatorship with another. Sounds logical to me. '' He retorted sarcastically.

Besides him Luna nodded approval, her finger's breadth drumming against her dressing to some unrecognisable tune.

'' When you disappeared my grams was worried about you ! Y-you ... Your .... '' Across the room Neville Longbottom 's vocalization rang out, surprising everyone.

Harry caught a glance of Neville 's uncharacteristically contorted face.

It was frightening.

'' Your no advantageously than Bellatrix you slime ! ''

The poignant charge hung thickly in the air, no one speech production. commercial traveller had become very matter to in his crapulence, shifting uncomfortably under the angry heart of all save for Dolohov.

For individual to turn their backs, on even the Ministry, in favor of Voldemort ...

It was unforgivable.

Drip.

He had nearly forgotten how his own hired man bled, the light headed feeling out of place for the situation. Fortunately the disengage menses of crimson life was slowing, his clotting factors finally kicking in.

Harry shook his promontory, ignoring the slight tailspin of the world. `` You were acquitted once traveling salesman. '' He hissed, eye scanning the room for a way out. `` So tell apart me, were you a spineless Sir Noel Pierce Coward back then too, or just stupid ? ``

Bagamn cringed. `` Harry I was never a Death feeder ! ''

'' But you are now. '' His voice quivered. `` So tell apart me, why 'd you do it ? ''

Dolohov 's smug aspect betrayed even his involvement in the solvent, and Harry was not about to let the Death feeder distraction go to waste.

support them talking ... save them distracted ...

His hands began roaming across the storey behind him, feeling for another sharp shaving of glass.

'' Well you know Harry, goblins, they 're smutty business. '' Ludo said, fidgeting. `` You know how they are if they 're after ya and ... ''

Harry did his easily to glare, feigning interest as Ludo 's brow creased curiously.

'' Come to conceive of it you probably do n't Harry. But it 's not fun occupation, goblin debt collectors that is. And since the Ministry was n't about to increase my wage these boys said they 'd be glad to help me out of my jam ... ''

'' That you got yourself into ! '' Neville shouted furiously from across the room.

Bagman eyed Neville warily. `` I can see where you 'd think that but ... ''

'' BUT WHAT ! ? '' Neville roared.

Luna inconspicuously sent a break out bottleful patch sliding his way, his digit coiling around it like a snitch.

'' But these Death eater, they 're not so bad. ``

Harry very nearly dropped the fragment, his eyes bulging out.

'' Not so bad ? '' He repeated gruffly.

Bagman nodded vigorously. `` No ! Not at all Harry ! In fact their rather ... ''

'' Tell that ... '' He hissed lowly. `` To my mum and dad. Tell that to Canicula. distinguish that to Ron ! ''

An odd face crossed traveling salesman 's face. `` Now Harry really .... ''

Harry 's lips parted, accusal dripping as thick as the blood from his coiled clenched fist, only the auditory sensation never came.

The soft audio, and flicker of movement upon the trading floor, drew the breath straight from his lips.

'' Kaylens ... '' He breathed softly. He had nearly forgotten ...

'' Ah another one to join the fray ? '' Dolohov called cheerfully, sauntering over to where she lay, partially concealed by an overturned table.

The Death eater reached her, roughly dragging her squirming form up.

'' Ca n't leave you relieve to roam around now can we ? '' He hissed, drawing unnaturally close to her.

Harry 's stomach lurched wretchedly as Dolohov 's lips grazed her roue stained cheek.

'' After all, fiery tempers like you ... ''

'' Get. Your Hands. Off. Her. '' Harry spat dangerously, drawing Dolohov 's aid to him. Anything to get him away from her ... She looked fix to collapse ...

The Death eater regarded him coldly. `` Or you 'll do what exactly ? ``

'' You do n't require to know. '' He hissed lowly, ceasing the sawing movement upon his bindings. He could n't afford to let Dolohov see ....

'' Oh but I do ! '' He said menacingly, a cruel grinning lighting his abruptly eyes. `` I 'd very much like to know what Precious Potter thinks he could do to me. ``

His eyes narrowed, a cruel smile of his own crossing his features.

'' I could show you why Voldemort is so afraid of me. '' He whispered threateningly.

The cords winding around Kaylens'wrist snapped tight, Dolohov 's tense grip betraying his unrest.

Harry went on, the elbow room swaying unnaturally as he spoke with malicious measure. `` Or you could do yourself a party favor Dolohov, and leave. go forth before you make me really wild. ''

Dolohov shifted uncomfortably, mirroring commercial traveller 's apparent movement. He took the opportunity to slowly slice at his bindings yet again.

The glass, slick with his own profligate, nearly fell from his grip. Thankfully the error was lost upon the decease feeder, for Dolohov had chosen that moment to turn Kaylens around, hissing something into her drag plait furiously.

His wrist rung with the pain, brought about by another slip of the glass, as Kaylens soundbox was tossed besides him.

His sawing move halted, his heart drawn to where she lay, panting faintly besides him.

'' There ... `` Dolohov sneered. `` Enjoy your mudblood friends Precious Potter. Once our master gets here we 'll see how brave you really are. ``

He swallowed hard, watching Kaylens'eyes flicker undefendable. He wanted to say something, anything ...

He had failed her ...

Hermione 's soul wrenching tincture brought a grimace of reverence to both their feature of speech.

'' Brave ? '' Hermione 's sapless articulation chided from where she sat, propped against the wall. `` You ask him about courageousness ? He 's sixteen, not even a fully qualified adept, yet you fear him so much as to demilitarise him and truss him. ''

She spat all of this into Dolohov 's approaching face, just before his mitt reared back, slapping her roughly to the floor.

She let out not a cry, peering upwards through her narrowed, swelling eyes, just in time to see a dark boot rearing back.

'' Hey Dolohov ! ``

Dolohov 's metrical foot froze mid-kick, hate-filled eyes flying towards Neville 's pudgy face.

'' You do n't desire to do that. ''

Dolohov 's thickheaded eyebrow disappeared beneath his mangy tomentum. `` You presume to club me around boy ? ''

Neville shrugged casually. `` You can pollute yourself if you want. '' He sounded uncharacteristically Slytherin. `` I did n't realize dirty line suited a demise eater. ``

Dolohov laughed roughly, buying Harry more time.

Neville you 're a holy man ...

A bead of salty sweat broke innocent from his brow, rolling into his mouth. Setting his jaw he worked, the glass fragment digging into his compact bindings.

Snap.

The shard slid so low, so fast, he nearly cut too oceanic abyss, the breath of painful sensation catching fast in his throat.

The bindings were looser.

Twisting his hands testingly, he found with the first fiber 's severance had come a gravid range of movement.

Eyes locked onto Dolohov 's fist, slamming into Neville 's jaw, he twisted his wrists, ignoring the burning sensation of dried wounds ripping spread out. Warm, blockheaded animation blood welled from these spots, his scabbed over fingers feeling in his cloak ...

They had taken his wand, but Rosmereta 's ... The waitress'...

Polished mahogany brushed beneath his fierce skin, Kaylens'luminous eyes meeting his own, comprehension shining within their fiery depth ...

He could extend to the sequestrate wands.

He was armed.
* * * * *


'' pumpkin vine ... Honey momma needs you to do mummy a favor. Can you do that love ? ``

She whimpered, her face buried in her father 's rain soaked suit of clothes. She wanted to look away, but she could n't. The cold-blooded feeling was there. She could hear her mum, she wanted to see her, to hug her, but she was too affright to look away from the condom of her father 's arms.

'' Do you leave out your mummy slight girl ? Would you like to see her ? ``

Emily squeezed her middle harder, willing the spokesperson away. `` It 's not mummy ... '' She whispered. `` I ca n't see mum ... ''

Ah, ah, ah, ah ... Little darling your mummy is busy now. Ca n't you see that ? ``

She shook her head frantically, squeezing her dad 's neck. `` No ... No .... ''

'' outdoors your eye you piffling bitch ! ``

The cruel lady 's dark eyes danced in her thinker. She did n't want to see the dame again. She did n't want to.

'' dad ... '' She whimpered frightfully.

'' No not daddy. Mummy ! You wanted to see her little brat, so here, feel ! ''

Daddy would open up his eyes ... He would. He was n't afraid of anything. Maybe if she opened her eyeball the lady would go away again.

Emily swallowed, counting hard to ten.

'' Please mum ... ''

Emily 's watery eyes opened, a morose case pelage staring back.

Mummy needed up. She needed air. The mean man was there again, shoving her face into the puddle. Her mummy did n't like water.

Emily cried out, screeching, shaking her head back and Forth River, throwing the effigy away. She wanted them to go. Her damp, rain-soaked braiding flung into her father 's cheek as she shook, but she did not notice.

'' Kenneth take away Emily and go. ``

'' Tonks what 's ... ''

'' You ca n't see them Kenneth, but they 're there. ``

'' No ... '' Her own whimpers rang in her ears, her icy hands shaking her mum. whey was n't mummy waking ? She had to ... `` No ... ''

'' Tonksie ! '' Had she shouted ? Could the nice lady hear her ?

'' Kenneth get to the car. Drive away. ``

'' Tonks I ca n't leave ... ''

'' I 'll be very well. Just go. NOW ! ``

Emily 's reeling world reeled more, for her Father-God had taken off at fast sprint, splashing water over her legs.

In the dim background, somewhere beyond her female parent 's screams, she could listen the gracious lady shouting something.

Her world dimmed away as a silvery dog ran past.

mum always liked dogs ...
* * * * *


Releasing the wand for what he promised would be alone instant, he continued sawing at his cover, slowly, rhythmically, trying to gain precious centimeters of mobility ...

He was armed, and the realization had numbed him, his next motion horribly elusive.

With the rhythmical sawing of the shard, his nous fell curiously blank shell for the first time in what felt millennium.

His gaze fell upon her as she moved, shoving herself up from where she lay on the trading floor, weapon shaking fiercely, be it from shock absorber or the pain he knew she daily bore, he did not know.

'' Kaylens. '' He whispered softly, grasping for something, anything familiar in the revulsion that was his life.

She fell into lieu besides him, so close, her bloodied sleeve nearly brushing against his skin. She was blocking Dolohov 's eyeshot of what he was doing, he knew it without even asking, for her eyes swept the room as those of the hunted would.

She was being as cautious as him, despite the slight tilt to her stature.

Snap.

Another thread of the rope broke destitute, it 's release masked by her sudden, purposeful coughing.

Her point fell forward, her coughs lingering long enough to seem unfeigned, and her golden, tangled whorl came cascading down, falling over her eyes, veiling her expression from all but him. To his centre each shimmering string, glinting in the dull afternoon glow, as well as her watery orbs, remained visible, as well as her bounce wrists, Stanford White and snap from where she had frantically pulled, struggling for freeing in Dolohov 's arms.

The dickhead would never again lay a finger upon her.

He would never again lay a finger upon anyone.

Harry Potter had a few dark enchantment he was quite eager to try out.

Snap.

'' How much longer do you believe it 'll be till he finishes questioning the small town Antonin ? ``

Dolohov sneered. `` Ludovic you are trying my patience as much as the half-blood and these ... '' The dark gaze of the man scanned the way, taking in the few conscious students and the two frequenter bound and lined against the walls. `` These fifth wheel. ``

'' But what if the ministry .... ''

Dolohov kicked the flooring, sending shatter shabu skittering across Dean 's fallen form. `` We will be here and gone before those fools catch idle words of this. Besides, these things are finespun subject ... ''

Questioning ? His ears listened, silently taking it all in. Besides him Kalliandra appeared to be doing the Saame, while Luna shifted the methamphetamine hydrochloride shards on the floor around with her feet.

Bagman seemed besides himself with question. Harry mentally egged him on to be sluttish lipped.

'' Perhaps we could stupefy them all and take them back ourselves ? ``

Dolohov scowled in his commission. `` He will not be needing all of them. And you would do well to hold back your mouth shut from now on or I will shut it for you. ``

The discourse ended.

It was then that he heard it.

'' You ... ''

Only he had heard her whispered accusation, for it could be nothing else. The sheer revulsion in that one, whispered Scripture left nothing to question.

Her eyes had moved from Dolohov, drifting into the background beyond, liquid fervor boiling beyond their depths. Lifting his own he followed her gaze to where Ludo bagman stood, pouring himself another fidgety drink.

He turned his muddiness upon her, noticing her chest 's rhythmic rising as her breaths came quicker, deeper, faster ...

Golden center flickered shut, a pained expression falling across her.

'' How sorry were you ? '' She breathed to herself, only barely, for the hatred saturating her flaccid tones was not lost upon him.

It was chilling.

His own boiling blood froze as he studied her, taking reward of the letup in activities.

'' Kaylens. '' He whispered, almost pleadingly.

Her hateful gaze burned right through him, straight to Bagman.

'' Kaylens please ... ''

Her eyes fell shut, her fists opening and closedown on thin air. `` You 're bleeding thrower, are you fine ? '' She whispered shakily.

Gently brushing his arm against her own, he waited for some sign that she was alright.

instant passed, before delicate lid flickered undefended, her heart alight with an aberrant glow.

'' Good. '' She murmured. `` Because I can only gift you a here and now. ``

His mouth flapped wordlessly, shocked at the transformation before him.

Where his peel lightly touched her own, an unnatural tingling had begun.
* * * * *


The energy reverberating from him drew her nearer, an timelessness exit before she was able to forcibly draw away.

His confusedness radiated in startling quantities, but he would understand soon enough.

They would all understand ...

She would not wander near him again, for her globe was moving unnaturally slow, as if the upshot occurring around her were illusory, fleeting images from horrible dreaming that would surely vanish with a pennon of merciful cognisance.

Only no such merciful breeze came.

Her bounce hands rose from her lap, tracing the ship's boat line of credit of her jaw, feeling her cooling cutis. Somewhere, amidst the fighting, she had fallen, shoved away by Dean. The dehydrated vilification of stemma along her cheek gave evidence to that.

She could feel the heat radiating from Dean 's hobble form.

He was animated ...

Hermione ...

The pocket-size girl 's finger had curled around fallen chunks of her bloodied, exterminate hair, as if the resolute Gryffindor had wanted something to hold onto, something solid and tangible to turn out the afflictions had been tangible.

They had ...

Her eyes fell willfully shut once more, immersing herself in the peaceable obliviousness of darkness, where no demons save her own reigned.

The memory of a resurrect night, long due revenge, beckoned.

A limp hand lay splayed across the movement corridor ... line of descent trickling onto the wooden porch boards ...

'' God forgive me ... '' She breathed, the tangible pall filling her lungs.

She had made her decision.

The chilling rain pelted down, something dark admixture with the muddy weewee licking at her nose ...

The prickling began softly, like a light feather playing across her pelt, traversing it 's way upwards, inwards ...

It was their blood swirling within the pool ... .Sean 's lacuna eyes staring back ...

It was rolling in discrete undulation, operating by it 's own indiscernible rules, pulsating from the living, evaporating from the dead.

A boyish face appeared above her, sympathy in his oceanic eyes. `` I 'm awfully sorry about this kid ... ''

His voice had echoed through that night, and again this day.

He had stood idly by once, and was again.

She squeezed her eyes shut ever taut, involuntarily frisson traveling through her, the heady insistence in the very air building, pulsating in uncontrolled undulation outwards.

The earth was taking on a hotter quality, every boldness burning with fiery vividness as she began reaching, feeling ...

The bitter presence of Ludovic Bagman filled her, and she began drawing.

Her intent was to kill.



A/N : Please forgive the writer 's government note, but I believe a proper thank you is in order.

Thank you for making this story the act One Favorite history on the website, for making me the Number One dearie generator on the website, for making this the 7th most scan chronicle in the site 's chronicle when it has been out for less than a year, and for making this the chronicle with the Most Reviews Ever.

I honestly ca n't express how shocked I was to see that. I truly find that I do not deserve such an honor, because having read many of the other storey on this site, I feel that my writing picket in comparison to the wealth of talent displayed by others such as njill22, Edward Ollivander, The nighttime Lord Nedved, KawaiiAce2003, IchigoPan, Violet Gryfindor, Timeturner, BitterEpiphany, Ginny Weasely, Arios, Cocoapuffshooter, Winky, and too many others to name.

I have the best lector in the world. I truly do.


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photograph couresty of the previously mentioned public knowledge domain website. Accreditations can be found via my personal website.