Chapter Five: Life Goes On

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When Draco Malfoy came home from Hogsmeade, he received an owl from his parents. The gist of it was that when he came home for winter holiday, his father planned to start his training as a Deatheater.

He’d received the same letter a week before, and the week before that.

He sent his third howler back home, telling his parents he wanted nothing to do with their choice of occupation. As much of an asshole as he was, he was no one’s pawn, and certainly wasn’t into killing people for fun.

The knock on the door nearly made him jump.

"Draco? Draco, it’s Professor Maclay."

He cleared his throated hid the howler under his bed. "Come in!"

Professor Maclay poked her head into the room. "Hey. Whatcha up to?"

"Nothing," he replied. He turned in his chair. "What do you want?" He didn’t mean for that to come out so harsh, but he was in a bad mood. Threats of Deatheater training did that to him.

"You seemed pretty upset at dinner today," the blond witch replied. "Just checking on you."

He had been upset. By the letter. He’d almost been tempted to ask Evelyn Black if he could borrow her lighter so that he could light his parents’ letter on fire.

"I’m fine," he told her.

She nodded. "If there’s anything, y’know, you wanna vent about, well, you know where my classroom is."

He nodded. "Yeah."

"And. Willow says hi."

Draco blinked. "Umm. hi."

Tara smiled at him and left.

He took his howler back out and finished it.

**

".So Sirius and James took all the jam they could muster up from the kitchen and dumped it all over of the Slytherin common room." Wesley smiled at the snickers he got. "but this heinous prank did not go unanswered. Oh, no. A day later, the Gryffindor common room was covered by one of the ten plagues of Egypt. Frogs. Tons of them."

The Slytherins in the room laughed.

"Now, Remus loved frogs. He had about three living with he and his friends in their dorm," Wesley explained. "So he adopted a few more. Now, he sat behind your Professor Snape in Potions. And one day, Remus took one of the many frogs he had out of his pocket, and dropped it into Snape’s robes. And. well. somehow, it got into his trousers."

Dumbledore smiled. "Ah, yes. I recall this incident."

"So, Severus gets to his feet, and starts running and jumping around like a maniac," Wesley continued. "Sirius Black sticks one of his foot, and Snape goes sprawling, writhing on the ground. That was the first, and last time Remus Lupin got detention."

Snape glared at Wesley menacingly.

"Oh, come off it, Severus," Wesley snapped. "How old are you? Four?"

"And on that note," Dumbledore chimed. "Time for bed."

Ron, Harry and Hermione walked out of Professor Wyndham-Pryce’s classroom together, that is until Hermione pulled Ron back.

"Let’s tell him."

"What?"

"About us. Let’s tell Harry."

"Why?"

"Because we’ve been skirting around him for nearly a month, and we need to tell me."

Ron stared at her for a moment, and then sighed. "Well. alright."

Harry was giving them a confused look. "What’s going on?"

"Harry," Ron said. "There’s something we need to tell you."

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

"Uhm. Ron and I have been, well." Hermione trailed off.

"Seeing each other?" Harry asked in an annoyed tone. "About bloody time you actually just said it."

"You knew?" Ron asked.

"Of course I knew!" Harry yelled. "I’m only your best friend! And you couldn’t even just tell me?"

"We thought it would make things weird," Hermione said quietly.

"What was weird was having you two sneaking around, like I’m some little kid," Harry snapped. "You could have just told me."

"We know," Ron muttered, looking down. "I’m sorry we didn’t."

"Fine," Harry said shortly. "Whatever. I’m. I’m gonna grab my cloak and go see Hagrid."

"Are you sure that’s a good idea?" Hermione asked. "Petigrew could still be about."

"I don’t care," Harry snapped.

He did exactly as he said he would. He fetched his invisibility cloak, and walked through the grounds, only to be grabbed by the hair, and a hand closed over his mouth.

"Not a sound," Petigrew growled. "Not one squeak."

At that moment, Harry knew that he should have listened to Hermione. Again.

Flippage Outage.
****

"Hagrid, have you seen Harry?"

Hagrid looked up at Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley curiously on that Saturday morning.

"No’ since class yesterday."

"That’s it," Ron said, his voice cracking. "You were right. Petigrew got him. He’s gone. He’s dead. You-know-who chopped his head off and it’s all our fault."

Hagrid looked at the fifth year with worried, curious eyes. Ron was pale, and had dark circles under his eyes. His fly was unzipped, and his sweater was on backwards.

"What’s happened?" Hagrid asked.

"Well," Hermione said. "Harry told us last night that he was going to see you. and. well. Ron said he never heard him come back last night, and he wasn’t there in the morning in the Tower, or at breakfast, and. well. we don’t know where he is."

"Didja ask Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked.

"Ask Dumbledore what?"

They turned to see their Headmaster standing in the doorway.

"Professor!" Ron cried.

"I was looking for Harry," he told them.

"He’s dead," Ron said, still panicked. "We’ve killed him."

"Will you get a hold of yourself?" Hermione said. She turned to Dumbledore. "He said he was going to come here last night, never showed up here, and hasn’t turned up in the castle, and he can’t have gone to see Snuffles, because. well. you know."

Dumbledore rubbed his chin. "This is interesting, isn’t it? It’s not like Harry to not turn up."

"Petigrew got him and it’s all our fault!" Ron cried. "We’ve killed him!"

"What in Merlin’s name are you talking about, Ron?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well. we waited till last night to tell Harry something we should have told him awhile ago," Hermione explained. "He got upset, and that’s why he was going to come here."

"Oh," Dumbledore replied. "I see. I think. We’d better talk to the other teachers before we jump to conclusions. And. Ron, you look as if you could use something to calm you down. Perhaps we should stop by the hospital wing."

"I’m a horrible friend," Ron muttered. "I suck at being a friend, and I should be taken out and shot."

"Lad, maybe you should have some tea," Hagrid said nervously.

"I don’t deserve tea. I don’t deserve anything. I’m a bad friend."

Hermione looked worriedly to Ron and sighed. "He’s been going on like this all morning. I don’t think he got any sleep last night."

"I waited up for him," Ron told them.

"Ye’re not a bad friend, lad," Hagrid said. "Yer worried, aren’t ye? An’ ye care that he was angry with you."

"If it weren’t for us, he wouldn’t have gone off," Hermione said guiltily. "We’ve just got to find him!"

"We will," Dumbledore assured her. "Perhaps he’s with another professor."

"Maybe Snape ate him," Ron grumbled.

"I’ll ignore that comment," Dumbledore said. "Now, come on."

They looked for about two hours, and no one had seen hide nor hair of Harry. After that, Dumbledore sent for Snape, The Angel Investigations members, the Scooby gang, and MacGonagall to come to his office.

Hermione thought she saw Ron twitch.

"I feel horrible, Hermione," Ron said. "You were right. Again. We shoulda told him sooner."

Hermione sighed. "I warned him about Petigrew."

"Petigrew is dead," Snape snapped.

"You saw him!" Hermione cried.

"No, he didn’t," Ron replied. "We knocked the hell out of him, remember?"

"I tried to block that out of my memory," she told him. "And don’t curse!"

"If Petigrew’s got Harry. that’s bad," Wesley said.

"Way to state the obvious, Wes," Faith said. "Where would he have gone?"

"We don’t know," Dumbledore replied. "That’s our fist problem."

"We could try a locator spell," Tara offered.

"It’s an option," Angel nodded. "But I think I know someone who can help us as a first choice. Come on. We need to get to Hogsmeade."

"I wanna go, too," Ron announced, getting up. "This is mostly my fault."

"Me, too," Hermione said.

"Oh, no, I don’t think so," Wesley told them. "Hermione, what your mother say if she found out I was taking you to fight Voldemort? And Ron. I’ve met your mother. I’m not even going to go there."

"But we’ve got to go," Hermione said. She turned to Dumbledore. "Please?"

Buffy was suddenly reminded of her own sister, begging to tag along, and suddenly missed her very much. "This is way dangerous," she told them. "You guys are not old enough, or experienced enough to come. Please, just. stay here. Maybe Harry will turn up, yet."

"He’s my best friend!" Ron cried.

"Mine, too!" Hermione said.

"Hermione, please," Wesley said. "We’re wasting time. Just stay here."

Ron visibly twitched, and Hermione slumped back in her seat.

They were staying.

After leaving Dumbledore’s office, they walked through the halls, and ran into Evelyn and Torianna, and informed them of what was going on.

"Why didn’t you guys go?" Torianna asked.

"We weren’t allowed," Hermione explained.

"And that stopped you?" Evelyn replied. "Why didn’t you just follow?"

"No invisibility cloak," Ron replied. "Harry had it. And now he’s probably dead, and it’s all my fault, and we shoulda told him, and now I’ve gone and gotten him killed. I mean it’s not like he needed my help, he’s had half of England on his arse for year, and I’m a bad friend, and."

"Has he been doing this all day?" Torianna asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded. "No sleep."

"Could get my bat," Torianna offered.

"I’m considering it," Hermione replied.

"Gasp!" cried a voice. "The Weasel without Potty? It’s uncanny!"

Ron whirled around a slugged Malfoy right in the face.

Evelyn cringed. "Youch."

"Oh, no," Hermione moaned.

"Go, Ronnie," Torianna said.

Malfoy put a hand to his bleeding mouth. "What the fuck, Weasley?!"

Ron blinked, and gave Draco a blank stare. "What?"

"I’m sorry, Malfoy," Hermione said. "You’ll have to excuse Ron. He’s really, really tired." She put her hands on Ron’s shoulders and steered him the other way, followed by Evelyn and Torianna.

Draco Malfoy stood there in shock.

"Draco?"

Malfoy turned around to find Willow standing there. She’d stayed behind from the search group for fear of what might happen if she was exposed to Voldemort.

"Hi."

She rushed up to him and took his hand away from his bleeding face. "What happened?"

"Got slugged," he replied, still staring after the quartet.

"Ron?"

"Uh-huh."

"Why?"

"He’s really, really tired."

"Come on, let’s get you to the hospital wing."

**

"I left for here as soon as I hear about Sirius."

Dumbledore grimaced. "I’ve been in contact with Fudge. Trying to convince him to give the boy a fair trial."

Remus Lupin looked down. "When I find Petigrew-"

"You’ll bring him into that courtroom to confess," Dumbledore cut him off. "Remus, I know you. You wouldn’t-"

"I almost did, in the Shrieking Shack with Sirius," Remus replied. "I want him to suffer and die like Lily and James, and Emily."

Dumbledore shook his head. "He’s Sirius’ best chance for freedom."

"Well, Padfoot’s luck has always been rotten."

**

"You’re staying in this bed if I have to chain you here."

Ron raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Chains?"

She blushed deeply, and threw the covers over him. "Stop that. I think Evelyn’s having a bad effect on you."

"Nah," he said with a tired smirk. "I’m my own bad effe-AAAHHH!!"

"RON?!" Hermione cried.

He gripped his hair, his eyes squeezed shut, his teeth grinding together. Tears automatically spilled from his eye as he keeled over in his bed, curling up into a fetal position.

"Ron?!" Hermione cried again "What is it?! You’re scaring me! Stop!"

All at once, images of Voldemort, Petigrew and other death eaters ran through his head, almost laughing at him. He saw Harry. oh, god.

A horrific scream ripped through him that filled the Gryffindor tower.

It ran down the stairs, through the halls, and right to the ears of the other Weasley siblings.

"I’d know that scream anywhere," George said to Fred and Ginny.

Ginny led the way. She ran from the halls, through the portrait hole, and right up to the boys’ dorm. She swung the door to Ron’s room open hard, to find Ron thrashing on the bed, with Hermione leaning over him, trying to make him still.

Fred looked completely baffled by the scene. "Kinky sex game?" he asked curiously.

"What in the hell is going on?" George asked.

"Get Dumbledore!" Hermione cried. "NOW!"

Ginny ran from the room.

"Help me keep him still, he’s out of control!" Hermione yelled at the twins.

Ginny didn’t even bother knocking on Professor Dumbledore’s office door. She shoved the door open and stumbled in.

Dumbledore and Remus Lupin stared at her, obviously startled.

"Ginny?" Lupin asked.

She was pale, and out of breath from running from one end of the castle to the other. "Ron’s flipping out."

The Mind’s Eye
****

"Ron? Can you hear me?"

Ron’s eyes opened slowly to look up at Willow, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Lupin. "Yes."

"What happened?" Lupin asked.

Ron squeezed his eyes shut again and jerked.

This time around he saw Sirius Black sitting in a dirty corner of his cell in Azkaban, a dementor looking through the cell bars at him.

Ron screamed, and went back to being curled up in a ball.

"What the hell is happening to him?!" Fred cried. He had an arm around Hermione, who was crying, while George had both his hands gripped onto Ginny’s shoulders.

"We’re not sure," Lupin replied. "I’ve never seen anything like this. Professor Rosenberg?"

Willow shook her head. "It seems kinda familiar, but I have a feeling Angel might be better suited for this sorta thing."

"Well, he’s off trying to find Harry," Dumbledore reminded her.

Lupin’s brow furrowed. "What happened to Harry?"

Ron’s teeth clenched. "Petigrew. Voldemort. death eaters."

"He can’t know that!" Hermione cried. "He’s been completely freaking out about it all day!"

Willow shook her head. "Oh! OH! I know! I know! Oh! Oh. This is bad. This is really, really bad."

"What?" Lupin cried. He panicked as Ron started to thrash again.

"He’s got visions."

The room went silent.

"What?" Dumbledore asked.

"Visions!" Willow cried. "He sees things that are happening right now, or will possibly happen. It makes perfect sense! The gripping the head, the. the knowing where Harry is. or. will be. the thrashing. Cordelia had the same thing."

"How do you get rid of it?" Hermione asked.

"Umm. you can’t."

"WHAT?!"

**

"Where. is Petigrew."

Angel smirked. "I’d tell her if I were you. She gets cranky when she doesn’t get her way."

"Forget cranky," Faith muttered. "Just kill ‘er. She swiped my last name."

"Let’s try this again," Buffy said, tightening her grip on Lilah’s throat. "Where the hell is Petigrew."

Lilah gagged. "If you let go of my throat, I’ll tell you."

"How about loosen?" Buffy suggested, loosening her grip on the lawyer’s throat. "Now. Where the hell is Peter Petigrew."

"On his way to Voldemort," Lilah replied. "Bringing the kid."

Wesley’s eyes narrowed. "Harry. If anything happens to Harry-"

"You’ll do what?" Lilah snapped. "Kill me? And then get hunted by the authorities of two countries, not to mention Fudge and his buttheads? I don’t think that’s what you want, Wesley."

Buffy tightened her grip again. "I’m not hearing what I want, Lilah."

"He’s gone to Riddle House!" Lilah cried.

"How far away is that?" Tara asked.

"Too far," Lilah choked out. "He can’t possibly be there yet, and it’s too far to apparate."

Wesley sighed. "Riddle House."

**

"I need a phone!" Willow cried. "Anybody! A telephone! Or a long- range disapparating spell to Los Angeles! Anything!"

Lupin sighed. "I only know a spell that’ll take you as far as New York. The only person I knew who could do an disapparating spell that advanced was Lily Potter."

Hermione chimed in. "Perhaps two or three apparating spells at once?"

"That’s a possibility," Remus nodded. "But how on earth would she get back?"

"Perhaps if we went with her?" Dumbledore asked.

"Then who, besides the kids, will look after Ron?" Willow asked.

"That one is very simple," Dumbledore replied. "Poppy!"

**

Cordelia Chase sighed as the phone rang in the Hyperian hotel. "Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless."

There were a few clicks, and silence.

Cordelia blinked. "That’s. really weird."

"What weird?" Lorne asked, walking over to her desk.

"Phone screwed up," Cordelia replied. "No sign of Gunn or Fred, yet?"

Lorne shook his head. "Not yet. Probably off somewhere having smoochies."

Cordelia smirked. "I just wonder why the phone is so wonky."

And then she got her answer.

A bolt of blue lightening hit the lobby floor, and in a bright flash, Willow stood in her Professor’s robes, with one man on either side of her.

Lorne smirked. "Remus Lupin and Albus Dumbledore."

Remus squinted. "Lorne?"

"The one and only. What brings you back to LA?" Lorne asked, stepping forward.

"Back?" Dumbledore asked Remus.

Remus shrugged. "I did have thirteen years."

Cordelia got up. "Are you guys the reason for the phone screwing up?"

"Probably," Willow replied. "We need your help."

"Me?" Cordelia asked.

"Both of you," Willow replied. "There’s a boy at the school, who’s writhing in agony because he sees things in his head."

Cordelia’s expression became worried. "Oh, god. a kid?"

Remus nodded. "They’re continuous. They don’t stop."

"Cordy," Lorne chimed in. "You’ve met Albus Dumbledore, or, so you told me. This is Remus Lupin. Dazzlingly intelligent, slightly depressed, and. a werewolf."

"Nice to meet you," Cordelia said, sticking her hand out to Remus.

Remus raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Lorne.

"Hey," Lorne snapped. "She has no reason to be afraid of you. She’s a half-demon."

Remus sighed, and shook Cordelia’s manicured hand with his raw, pale one.

"Hey, Reme," Lorne commented, nodding to his disturbing-looking hand. "Thought you were taking something for that."

Remus snatched his hand away, turning slightly red.

"You said the visions are continuous?" Cordelia asked.

Willow nodded. "He’s been screaming for about two hours straight."

Cordelia ran into the office as best she could in her orange heels. She opened up a desk drawer and took out a ripped up scroll. She brought it out, and sighed. "Do any of you know how to read ancient Arabic?"

**

They’d finally caught up with Petigrew two hours after Buffy had knocked Lilah out cold, and Wesley had led them in the direction of Riddle House. Peter was dragging a bloody, tired-looking Harry behind him.

Buffy felt anger boil up inside her. She really felt for the boy. He was caught up in something completely insane that he had no control over.

She could relate.

Which was why she jumped out in front of Petigrew and kneed him in the nuts.

He squeaked, and lost grip of Harry, who would have fallen straight to the grass below him if Tara hadn’t caught him.

"Well," Giles muttered. "That’s one way of dealing with this. Buffy, I think Faith’s having a bad effect on you."

Buffy smirked. "Worked, didn’t it?"

"Guess what?" Tara asked.

"What?" Harry asked hoarsely, eyes half open.

"You’ve been rescued."

Wesley smiled at Peter and held out his wand. "Bounda-"

And then he was gone. Disaparated.

"DAMN!" Wesley snarled. "I almost had him! When the hell did he get so damn strong?!"

**

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