Believe

"How can you still deny this?!"

Cornelius Fudge sighed. "Death Eaters does not necessarily mean You-Know-Who is back, Albus. You cannot keep believing this!"

"Get a clue, Cornhole," Faith snapped. "Voldie’s back, and you’re scared shitless."

Fudge fumed. "How dare you talk to me that way!"

"Somebody’s got to!" Faith yelled, getting to her feet.

Dumbledore sighed. "Please, take your seat, Professor Morgan. Let us all try and be calm about this."

"Sure," Buffy voiced. "Calm about the big, honking evil that wants all of us, and most of our students dead. Let’s all be calm."

"The first step in defeating Voldemort is admitting that he is a real threat," Giles said. "This was no fluke, Mr. Fudge. They killed one of our students, and two other children! They used an unforgivable curse!"

"A few of them," Molly Weasley snapped. "Why are you so bloody blind to this, Cornelius? We all see it! What’s wrong with your eyes?"

"Molly, please," Arthur said soothingly.

"You’re just upset because your son was a victim," Fudge said. "A son who happens to be a demon? What if he was one of them? What if he is only acting injured to cover his tracks?"

Charlie and Arthur held a very angry Molly in her seat.

That didn’t stop Percy from getting up.

"My younger brother is… is many things," he stammered quietly. "But he is not a traitor."

"But he is a demon, is he not?" Fudge asked.

"Half-demon," Angel corrected sharply. "There’s a huge difference."

"Still dangerous. Still prone to evil, yes?" Fudge asked. "And what of the young Malfoy? His father was in on this attack, was he not?"

"Draco is innocent," Tara spoke up. "H-he’d never do such a thing."

"Malfoys are very slippery, as I have learned in these past few days," Fudge replied. "They cannot be trusted."

"So… Half-demons and Malfoys," Buffy said sarcastically. "Check. No trusting. Right."

"Are you mocking me, young lady?"

"Yep."

Fudge sighed. "Who else could it have been?"

"What if it was not a student?" Remus spoke up, finally. He had been quite busy keeping Sirius and Sarah in their seats. Both looked about ready to wallop Fudge but good.

"A teacher, then," Fudge said. "What about you, Professor Snape? What were you up to last night? Tipping off your fellow Death Eaters, perhaps?"

Faith got to her feet in a fury, but was pulled back down by Angel and Buffy.

"Professor Snape has been infiltrating the Death Eaters for some time, now," Dumbledore chimed in. "If not for him, we would not have known the Death Eaters were coming at all."

Fudge stayed silent.

"Yeah, that’s right," Faith snapped. "What now, bitch?"


"Now, just hold still a moment."

Harry didn’t move. Not a muscle. He was sitting on the couch in Godric’s Hollow… again. This time, his parents and Emily were present. His mother was treating the cuts on his arms.

"I’m going to kill those bloody Death Eaters for this," James snarled, fist clenched.

Emily sighed. "Trust me, I’d be right with you if we weren’t so dead."

"There’s nothing we can do," Lily said. "And… Harry’s not alone. He has Sirius and Remus and Sarah, and all of his friends."

Harry said nothing.

"Are you alright?" his mother asked.

He stayed silent, looking at a spot on the wall behind her.

She took him by the chin and gently forced his eyes on her. "Harry. You… you can’t possibly think this is your fault…"

He tried to not look at her, but she made it impossible.

"Harry. This was not your fault."

"I split up the group," Harry said finally. "I dragged Cho, and Neville, and Ron, and Hermione, and Ginny to the Shrieking Shack. If we’d all just gone to Honeydukes, Cho would still be alive! Maybe Dudley, too!"

Lily sighed. "Harry, you did what you thought was right. It was a mistake. Either way, someone was going to die. It’s going to take time to recover for everyone. But you’ve got to."

"Cho’s dead," Harry whimpered. "It was supposed to be me."

"Harry, she’s safe," Emily said softly. "She’s with Cedric, now."

"And Dudley died thin," James pointed out.

Lily glared at her husband. "Very nice, James."

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry." He walked to sit on Harry’s other side. "You need to go on. You’re needed, Harry. You’re a warrior. And your friends need you to be strong with them."

"With them or for them?"

"Have you ever known your friends to be weak?" Emily asked. "Even in the face of death?"

Harry smirked, thinking about Ron and Hermione’s equal stubbornness, Evelyn’s big mouth, and Torianna’s fists.

"Thought not," Emily snickered.

"We know you’re hurting," Lily said softly. She put a hand through his black hair. "But know that we all love you, and Sirius, Remus and Sarah love you. You’re friends love you. Use that. Lean on that. They’re there for you, as you are for them. You can be strong. We believe in you."


As much of a glory hound as Ron Weasley could be, he hated being worried over.

But that was what everyone was doing.

When MacGonagall had come to check on them, she gave a harsh glare, and sent Hermione back to her own bed. things became a little colder after she’d gone.

Ron was secretly plotting to abandon his own bed for hers the moment his family was done visiting.

Harry had been placed in the farthest bed from the door, near the window, and Ron didn’t remember when Sarah Lupin had shown up, but she was sitting with Harry, now. They were speaking quietly.

Ron and Hermione had spoken a little about Harry when they’d woken up that morning. Neither knew what to say to him, and Ginny hadn’t even been able to look at any of them. She’d been given permission to leave earlier that morning.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Molly Weasley rushed in and thrw her arms around Ron, who gave a flinch, and an "Urk."

Behind her, walked Arthur, Charlie, Percy, George and Fred.

"Oh, Ron! Thank Merlin you’re alright!"

"Hi, Mum."

She pulled him back to look at him, putting a hand through his red hair. She frowned at his dim, yellow eyes. "Oh, Ron."

"I’m okay, Mum."

She gave him a sad smile. "Of course, Dear."

"Move, Woman!" Fred cried.

Molly rolled her eyes and made way for Fred and George.

They flopped themselves down on either side of Ron.

"Much Better."

"Oh, yeah."

Charlie rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed. "How ya feeling?"

"Okay," Ron replied. "Madam says I’ll have to stay here a few more days. I’m really starting to hate this place."

"Well, if you’d stop landing yourself here, you wouldn’t hate it so much," Percy replied.

"Thanks, Percy," Ron dryly. "I’ll keep that in mind."


Draco was training.

No one was with him. No one had asked him to. He just felt like kicking some ass without making a fuss. So he decided the best thing for him was the beat up the punching back.

"Having fun?"

Draco didn’t stop hitting. "Hi."

Evelyn walked up. "Haven’t seen you all morning."

"I know."

"You okay?"

"Fine. Happy as a pig in shit."

"Nice."

"I thought so."

Evelyn grabbed the punching bag, and held it as Draco punched. "This is eating you, isn’t it?"

"What?"

"Last night. Your dad."

"Didn’t I already tell you I’m fine?"

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

Draco stopped punching. "So it’s eating me! It’s eating me that Ron went down so fast. It’s eating me that Potter’s turned into a raving fucking loony, and it’s eating me that my old man is out to kill the lot of us!" He put a hand through his hair and shook his head. "What am I supposed to do? Is this the bloody darkness I’m supposed to be fighting? I thought I was a vampire slayer."

"I don’t know," Evelyn said. "I guess you’re just supposed to fight for what you believe in."

"And what do I believe in?"

"You tell me."

"Okay," he replied. "I believe that Harry Potter is a right ponce."

"We knew that," Evelyn replied. "And what did I say about calling my friends names?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Right. Not in front of you. I believe that Hermione Granger is damned smart. I believe that I like Ron Weasley even more for smacking Potter around last night. I believe that my father needs to die. I believe that Voldemort has to die."

"Anything else?"

"I believe your hot… For a Dementor."

She blinked, and swung the punching bag at him. He caught it easily and laughed.


His feet felt a little wobbly, but he could stand. That was a plus, considering that when he’d woken up, he could barely move.

Ron hoisted himself carefully off the bed, and slowly took the few feet to Hermione’s.

She turned over and looked up at him with groggy eyes. "Morning."

"Hi," he replied. "Mind if I join you?"

"We already got into trouble once," she warned.

"News flash, Mione," Ron replied. "We’re always in trouble. Now scoot over. I’m getting tired, and my bed‘s cold."

"You’ve been standing for all of a minute!"

"Well, I feel tired again."

She shifted over with an amused sigh, and he pulled back the covers and hopped in.

"It’s funny," Hermione said.

"What’s funny?"

"I don’t feel awkward about this."

"About what?" Ron asked.

"Sharing a bed."

He stayed silent for a moment, feeling his face turn slightly red. "I think you just made it awkward, but it wasn‘t awkward a moment ago."

"Oh. Whoops. Sorry."

"Knock, knock!"

Ron was grateful for the interruption, but wasn’t quite certain he liked the nature of it.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team trouped in, all still wearing their pajamas, all covered in a white powdery substance. Angelina, Katie and Torianna made it look very adorable. Most of the substance had settled itself on their faces. Fred and George, however; were covered in it, as was Oliver, who looked very bitter.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You know, you could get expelled for drug use."

Ron snickered. Yay for killer wit.

Angelina Johnson turned her attention to Ron, and Harry, who’d just turned to face them. He sat up slowly, and gave them an odd glance.

"We convinced the Kitchen Elves to let us bake you cookies!" Katie said cheerily.

"Us being the three of us," Torianna said. "Fred and George just played with the flour the whole time."

"And Oliver tried to help," Katie pointed out. "But… well… it kind of went wrong a bit."

"Ronnie!" George cried in mock shock. "How indecent can you be?! Sharing a bed with a girl!"

Ron wrapped an arm around Hermione. "Jealous?"

"You know it," George replied. "Katie barely sits next to me at lunch!"

"The only reason I don’t sit next to you at lunch is that you repeatedly try to feed me things that will turn me into various animals, you prat!"

George shrugged. "What else is lunch for?"

Harry snickered at them, and Angelina threw him a small package of cookies.

"Thanks."

"Don’t thank us yet," Fred replied. "We never taste-tested them."

"Does this mean I’ll be turning into an elephant, then?" Harry asked.

"Don’t eat too many," Oliver warned them. "Soon as the two of you are better, you’ve got to practice. We’ve got games coming up."

Fred saluted Wood. "Yes, sir, Captain Blood, sir!"

Oliver rolled his eyes.

Hermione sighed and got to her feet. "I need to go find Professor Rosenberg, I have some questions about the levitation homework."

"We get a day off from class, and you want to ask about homework," Ron marveled as she walked out. "Tell me again how we’re compatible?"

"Animal Magnetism," Harry remarked with a giggle. He didn’t know why he was making so many jokes all of the sudden. Maybe it had helped to see his parents and Emily. Maybe it helped that his friends had cared enough to make he and Ron cookies.

Whatever it was, it was masking the grief that was going to be settling in to stay for a long time.

Ron glared. "Shut your hole!"

"Feeling better, Harry?" Torianna asked.

Harry sighed. "Yeah, a bit." He smirked a little. "Must be the cookies."


"What are you suggesting, Ms…?"

"Morgan. Lilah Morgan. My firm can offer your school very, very efficient magical protection."

Sirius Black snorted loudly.

Dumbledore blinked, and turned his eyes on his son-in-law. Sirius was glaring at Lilah with a horrible look.

"Something to say, Sirius?"

Lilah hadn’t recognized him. He looked so different when he was cleaned up. Very handsome.

Hermione walked into the Great Hall quietly, watching as the entire staff stared at the one woman.

"She’s working with Voldemort, her and her firm," Sirius replied. "She offered me a job because she thought I was a Death Eater."

"It’s true," Wesley chimed in. Hermione decidedly didn’t like the way her uncle was looking at the woman in question. "I was there."

"Me, too," Angel said.

Dumbledore sighed. "Well, then Ms. Morgan. I will have Professors O’Brien and Snape show you to the door. I’m sorry to say that you are not welcome here."

"Wait, Sir, please let me explain-"

Angel had grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her to her feet.

"It’s time to go Lilah," he said. "Wave bye-bye to the nice teachers."

Snape sighed, and followed, looking his usual, annoyed self.

When they’d left, Hermione cleared her throat.

The teachers turned to her, most regarding the smartest girl in fifth year with warm smiles, and nods.

"Hello, Hermione," Dumbledore smiled. "Feeling better, I see."

"Yes, thank you," she replied. "I was hoping to have a word with Professor Rosenberg, please?"

Willow got to her feet and smiled at the younger girl. "Sure." She followed the girl out into the hall. "What’s up?"

"I… I have a favor to ask of you," Hermione admitted, looking her red-headed teacher right in the eyes. "I’ve been doing research on the type of magic you do in the states, the… informal sort of magic that isn’t really taught in any of the wizarding schools."

Willow’s expression became very serious. "What about it?"

"It’s a more offensive magic," Hermione went on. "Some Aurors are known to use it in battle… I was wondering if perhaps… you could teach me?"

Willow blinked, and stared at the girl in shock. It was all she could do.