Fic: Call Me Conrad (13/16)
Title: Call Me Conrad (part 13 of 16)
Fandoms: Buffy/Hollyoaks/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Finally our heroes get to Hogwarts. Now they just have to stay alive.
Amy was beyond impressed. She had vaguely got the idea that Conrad's kind of wizard threw magic around like water, and being blipped around the place was now nausea-inducing rather than amazing, but the castle these kids used as a school was something else. The stuff they took for granted, chatting with paintings and ghosts like it was nothing new... well, it just made it clearer how insignificant Con- Draco must find her flat.
Impressed was, unfortunately, having to take a back seat at the moment. Things had been spiralling out of control ever since Buffy together with Ron's least-favourite brother had led them through the secret passage into a room full of schoolkids determined to start a revolution right then. Things had been sticky when they had noticed Conrad, but a combination of Harry, Ron and Hermione vouching for him and Amy and the other slayers glowering at anyone who even looked like they might bad-mouth him had smoothed things over. Well, maybe 'smoothed' wasn't the right word, but at least the overt threats had stopped.
Then Harry had made his impassioned plea about a lost diadem, which Amy presumed was the last of the known horcruxes. When Harry, Buffy and the girl they had rescued, Luna, went off to look at some statue for clues, Willow and Kennedy had promptly enlisted her and Conrad to try to keep control of the kids. That had worked right up until alarms started sounding, at which point the kids all charged without any kind of plan. Fortunately they hadn't encountered anyone other than teachers the kids respected, but that hadn't made Amy feel any better about being swept along in the crush. The fact that no one else had done any better did not improve her mood any.
They had ended up in what Conrad told her was the Great Hall. It was amazing; Amy had no idea how they made the ceiling look like outside or kept hundreds of candles burning without dripping wax on everyone, she just knew that it was beautiful. She managed to stop gawping in time to see Buffy stalking towards them.
"One of the bad guys blind-sided us," Buffy said grumpily. "We took him out, but not before he sent up the alarm."
"They were waiting for you?" Kennedy asked.
"For Harry, but yes," Buffy confirmed. "They knew we'd be looking at that bust."
"We must be on the right track then," Conrad said. "The Dark Lord wouldn't have watchdogs here if there wasn't something to guard."
"You can use his name," Buffy told him. "I'm pretty sure Voldy knows that Harry's here by now. If he didn't guess when the balloon went up, the Principal will have told him by now."
"Professor Snape escaped?" Amy asked. She knew Conrad would want to know; he had explained all about his godfather to her and she had seen at the time how conflicted he was.
Buffy nodded. "Jumped out of a window and flew off like some giant bat," she said, "which is apparently majorly impressive." Conrad's eyes certainly went wide at the news, Amy noticed. "Plus, according to Harry, old Snake-Face is on his way here anyway. Apparently he's figured out we've been destroying his toys, and he's really pissed about it."
"Definitely on the right track," Willow muttered.
"May I have your attention please?" The elderly witch must have done something magic to her voice, because her extremely Scottish accent cut easily through the hubbub. None of the kids looked the least bit surprised. The woman - Professor McGonagall, Conrad whispered - outlined the situation to the kids as more wizards and slayers filtered into the hall. Amy felt scared, though she tried not to show it; this had been supposed to be a quick, stealthy raid, and she had only come along because Conr- Draco insisted on going with Harry. Now it was shaping up to be a full-scale battle, Amy was painfully aware of how inexperienced she was. The last fight she'd been in had nearly killed her, and this one promised to be worse.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, rolling through Amy's head and interrupting McGonagall's stiff reassurances. Judging from the stifled screams, this was Voldemort himself. Amy shivered.
"Your efforts are futile," the voice continued. "You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.
"Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.
"You have until midnight."
The silence that followed was almost tangible. Buffy didn't let it fester. "Resistance is futile," she snarked. From the limited number of frightened giggles, most of the wizards didn't get the reference.
"But Potter's there," one of the older girls said unsteadily, pointing to Harry. "Someone-"
"No." Conrad's voice wasn't loud, but it still shocked the girl into silence. It also made Harry's schoolmates, who had looked ready to leap to his defence, stop and stare. Amy couldn't help grinning with pride.
"I know you're scared, Pansy," Conrad continued. "I spent most of last year terrified and I'm not much better right now. The trouble is, handing over Potter isn't going to make that go away. V- Voldemort is never going to make you feel safe. Even his rewards have threats in them. If you ever want to stop feeling so afraid, you need Harry to win."
No one, it seemed, knew how to take that. The girl Conrad had spoken to looked gobsmacked and betrayed, and her friends were no better. Harry's friends looked to be mostly confused, though Harry himself was relaxed and a couple of older red-heads near him were grinning from ear to ear.
"Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall said after a moment, "I would understand entirely if you wished to lead the lower years to safety. I do not want to put anyone at odds with their relatives. And yes, Mr Malfoy," She continued as Conrad opened his mouth, "I am well aware that you will be staying to defend the castle. I would rather none of my students were placed in danger, but as Miss Summers pointed out, we cannot readily stop you."
"Believe me, I've spent years trying," Buffy called out, sending an amused glance Willow's way.
They gathered a lot of curious looks as the younger kids were chivied out of the hall. Amy supposed that they must look odd to the student wizards, a bunch of teenaged girls with lots of obvious old-fashioned weaponry and no visible wands. The ones who had been born into wizarding families probably didn't even know what Buffy was doing when she whipped out her phone and started talking into it. That reminded Amy; she needed to warn her father that she wasn't going to be home any time soon, and he might be stuck babysitting until morning. She got out her own mobile, but stared in confusion as the display flickered wildly.
"Here, let me," Willow said, taking the phone off her. She covered it with her other hand and muttered something for a good half minute before handing it back. The display looked normal now, Amy saw as she gingerly took it. "Magic can be hard on electronics if you don't protect them," Willow explained, "and this place has a lot of magic. That should hold it for a few hours. I'll fix it properly when we have more time."
"Thanks," Amy said sincerely. She felt horribly outclassed once again. She tried not to think about it as she spoke to her father, but she couldn't help wondering what she hoped to achieve here. She was fast and strong, but this place, this fight was all about magic and she didn't have any of that. She had come because she needed to protect Conr- Draco, couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt. Now she was here she didn't know what she could do. This was his world, not hers.
Buffy caught her eye as she finished. "You OK?" she asked.
Amy thought about lying until she saw the concern on Buffy's face. "It's just..." She gestured helplessly at the castle around them.
"I know," Buffy said gently. "This is big. We're coming in on the end of a war, and only a handful of Slayers have any idea what that really means. Plus, you've got a boyfriend in the thick of it. That's never easy to handle."
"He's not... We're not.." The claim stuck in Amy's throat. She had woken up with Conrad holding her, making her feel precious again, and she couldn't remember being happier. She was going to lose him back to this magical world, but she had him for now. That would have to be enough. "I don't want him to get hurt," she admitted.
"You are officially on detached duty," Buffy said. "Stick to your boy like glue, OK?" When Amy nodded, Buffy grinned and steered her back to where Conrad was waiting. Willow joined them moments later, tucking her own cellphone away. "Hey Wills, what's the what?"
"I was just bringing Xander up to date," Willow explained. "The guys are ready and waiting if we need them."
"Vi and Rona's squads are on their way through the secret passage by now," Buffy reported. "Apparently that floo thing is a really wild ride. Where's Kennedy?"
"She took her squad down to the main entrance," Willow said. "We figured it was the most likely breech point." She looked at Conrad, who shrugged.
"Once the wards are down, the Death Eaters can apparate into anywhere they can visualise clearly," he said. "They'll probably go for the entrance all the same."
"OK." Buffy frowned. "I need someone who knows the castle so I can figure out where to put the other squads."
"Potter," Conrad said promptly. "Or the Weasley twins, but they're busy with the other entrances."
"Where is Harry anyway?" Amy asked. She hopped onto a bench, but couldn't catch sight of any of the Trio. At least not until she saw Harry hurry back into the Great Hall, an excited look on his face.
"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Harry demanded as he rushed up to them.
"They were supposed to be with you," Buffy said pointedly.
Harry frowned, evidently not taking Buffy's hint. "Hermione has the sword," he said.
Willow perked up. "You found it?" she asked.
"I know where to look," Harry said. "It might take a while to actually find it."
"OK, that takes priority," Buffy said firmly. She looked at Amy and Conrad. "You two go with him, make sure no one tries to take Voldeborg up on his offer."
"Here, take these," Willow said, fishing some ear-pieces out of a pocket. "I figured that ordinary non-magical comms would be more reliable for once, at least once I magic-hardened them." Amy thanked her as she fitted her radio, following Buffy's lead in making sure the inconspicuous microphone was firmly taped to her jawline. She turned to help the wizards, but both Harry and Conrad seemed to have it well in hand.
"These may not get through to us where we're going," Harry warned. "I know it blocks magical detection."
"We'll deal," Buffy said. "Just call back in when you get clear. Now all I have to do is scare up a teacher who will actually stop and talk. Someone must have a map of this place."
"I can do better than that," Harry said. He reached into his robes, pulled out a sheet of paper and waved his wand over it. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he declared.
"Wow," Willow said as a map appeared on the paper. Amy could see it was covered in annotations - names, it looked like - that seemed to be moving. Amy was amazed all over again.
"Real-time update and everything," Buffy said appreciatively as she took the map. "You sure know how to please a lady."
Amy tried not to grin too much as Harry blushed at the innuendo. "Come on," she said, "let's go before the bad guys attack."
******
Conrad baulked as Potter stopped in front of a horribly familiar wall. He had spent far too much time the previous year in the room hidden behind that wall, getting ever more scared and desperate. He hadn't really been paying attention when they had arrived, hadn't realised where in the castle they were, but as Potter had lead them back and he recognised more of the route, Conrad's heart had begun to sink. Now here was the proof; Harry's "Room of Requirement" was the same room Draco had used to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
"Here we are," Harry said as the door appeared. He threw it open, and Conrad froze at the awfully familiar sight it revealed.
"Conrad?" Amy must have noticed him stop, because she was staring at him in concern. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate.
"The Room of Lost Things," he managed to whisper.
Potter turned back to them, the smile falling from his face. "Oh, I should have thought! I'm sorry," he said. Amy frowned at him, so of course Potter had to explain. Conrad braced himself for yet more humiliation.
"Ma-, er, Conrad spent a lot of time in this room last year," Potter said with unexpected delicacy. "Old Snakeface had set him a pretty impossible task, but he actually found a way. I can't imagine it was much fun, though," he finished, looking at Conrad sympathetically.
Conrad was grateful for Harry's tact, but he knew he had to tell Amy the rest of it. He owed her the whole shameful truth of who Draco Malfoy was. "I let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts," he said. "I managed to repair a Vanishing Cabinet so that they could use it to get past the wards, and... And I killed Dumbledore."
"No you didn't," Harry countered quickly and firmly. "I was there on the tower, I saw you disarm Dumbledore, but that's all. You aren't a killer."
"He's still dead because of me," Conrad insisted.
Amy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "You were bullied into it," she said, "but even when you couldn't see any other options you still didn't cross that line. I'm really proud that you were so strong."
"Think of it this way," Harry said mischievously. "You were good enough to disarm Dumbledore." He paused and looked at Conrad consideringly. "You beat Dumbledore..."
"Shouldn't we be looking for the Diadem?" Conrad asked before Harry could say anything more embarrassing about him. He didn't understand why he was surrounded by people who refused to believe he was weak and unreliable, and he was a little worried about forgetting himself and starting to believe them.
"Alright," Amy said gently, and Conrad loved her a little bit more for letting him off. She led him into the huge, junk-filled room. "What exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
"It's a tiara," Harry said. "It's not actually all that flashy if it's what I think it is. I put it on this really ugly bust wearing a wig... Somewhere around here, I think."
They searched hurriedly. Even so, Conrad was horribly conscious of the passing time, and he wasn't unduly surprised when Amy glanced at her watch and announced, "It's gone midnight. The attack will have started."
"We need to get a move on," Harry muttered. "It must be here somewhere... Aha!" He lunged for what Conrad had to admit was a stupendously ugly bust and came up with a small tiara, not excessively bejewelled though with some intricate metalwork. It did look surprisingly ordinary.
"Expelliamus!" The tiara went flying out of Harry's hand. Conrad turned, wand ready, to see Blaise Zabini standing between two piles of junk, flanked by Greg and Vince. "Where's Granger?" Blaise demanded.
"No idea," Conrad said promptly. Blaise looked at him narrowly, and Conrad realised that he was going to have to think more like his old self if he was going to keep this from getting very nasty indeed.
"I heard her talking," Blaise shot back. "Where is she?" He must have mistaken Amy's voice for Granger's, Conrad reasoned, and somehow Amy must have hidden from them. He felt proud of her once again, and manfully didn't look in the direction he had last seen her.
"She's not here," Harry said coldly. "I don't know what you heard, but it wasn't her."
A line of attack occurred to Conrad, and he tried to smirk the way he used to. "I hesitate to ask, Blaise," he drawled, "but how long have you been hearing Granger when she isn't there? It's really not a healthy sign, obsessing over someone like that. And heaven only knows what Weasley will think."
"Who cares what Weasley thinks," Vince grunted.
"Apart from Granger?"
"Enough about Granger," Blaise snapped, sparing Conrad the need to actually start listing people. He lifted an eyebrow instead, knowing Blaise would interpret it as taking note of mentioning Hermione again. Blaise's eye twitched. "You're coming with us," he said through gritted teeth. "Both of you."
"I don't think so," Potter said. He had used Conrad's distraction to draw his own wand, but being a Gryffindor he hadn't taken any more advantage. "There are only three of you."
Greg frowned. "There are only two of you," he said. Potter raised an eyebrow at him, which Conrad could have told him wouldn't work. Subtlety always went straight over Greg's head.
"Harry's an excellent fighter," he said gently, "and sorry Greg, but you aren't."
"But there's only two of you," Greg insisted stubbornly.
Harry gave a frustrated sigh. "Look, there's only a couple of students I'm not sure I can beat easily," he said. "One of them's here, but he's standing beside me. Draco and me are easily a match for you three."
"Now Potter's praising Malfoy," Blaise sad consideringly. "Is there something we should be telling the Weaselette?"
Harry was clearly thrown off his stride by the innuendo, but Conrad had long since lost any embarrassment over sex. No insinuation could possibly be as bad as what he had done - no, as what had been done to him. Besides, he and Ron had already laughed themselves silly at the idea. "He's handsome enough," he allowed, grinning a little to throw Blaise off-balance, "but I don't think he's interested. Besides, my girlfriend would object."
Blase gaped, evidently not expecting Conrad to be so blase. Now Conrad thought of it, the old him probably would have had a hissy fit about family honour and his own manhood. Unfortunately Harry was no better than Blaise, while Vince and Greg just looked puzzled; Draco didn't have quite the surprise he wanted to start the duel.
"You're...?" Blaise managed eventually. He stepped a little closer. "Wait, you have a girlfriend?"
Amy melted out of the shadows, grabbed Vince and Greg and smacked their heads together. Blaise turned as they slumped to the ground, and Amy grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping him spellcasting. "Yes, he does," she said. "And for the record, I do object."
Conrad beamed at her. It was on the tip of his tongue to say that he would have been disappointed if she didn't object, but he recognised the Malfoyishness of the remark in time. "We'll deal with these guys, Harry," he said instead. "You find the diadem."
It only took a few moments for Conrad and Amy to disarm the boys and tie them up with conjured rope. Blaise was shocked into silence at first, before glaring furiously at Conrad. "You traitor," he hissed. "I don't know you any more. Consorting with Mudbloods and Muggles and Merlin knows what else? After all the Dark Lord has done for you-"
"The Dark Lord gave me an impossible task to punish my father," Conrad broke in harshly. "He made it clear that what I managed wasn't good enough. So I ran. The Muggles?" He paused, looking at Amy. "They saved my life. They had absolutely no reason to, but they saved me, took me in, and put me back together when all that was left of me was a few broken bits. And they may not have magic like we do, but it turns out there are some things their technology is better at."
"All Voldemort wants is power," Harry said as he reappeared, the tiara looped over his arm. "He'll use you for as long as you're useful, then if you're lucky he won't use you as an example. Come on, let's go."
They stunned Blaise and the others, and locked them into a convenient wardrobe. It wasn't ideal, but Conrad hoped it would keep them out of the way for long enough. He really didn't want any more deaths on his conscience; his part in Dumbledore's death was quite enough.
The radios sputtered back to life as they left the room. Conrad started in surprise; he had forgotten he was wearing it, and besides he really hadn't expected to hear Weasley's voice snapping out orders.
Amy lifted a hand to her ear. "This is Amy," she said. "We're back." It felt very odd to Conrad to hear her both in front of him and directly in his ear.
"Gotcha," Ron said promptly. "We saw Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle head in after you. Are you OK?"
"They're unconscious in a cupboard," Harry said. "We're fine, and we found what we were looking for."
Weasley's sigh of relief came over the radio clearly. "Hermione's on her way to you already, she'll be there in a minute. Fred and Percy are in the corridor to your left, they could use a hand."
"On it," Harry said, already turning into the corridor. In short order Conrad found himself helping to knock the Minister of Magic out. It was quite invigorating, really.
"Oh Minister," Percy Weasley said to the man who appeared to be slowly turning into a sea urchin, "before I resign, the Watcher's Council wanted you to know that they're here to destroy some artefacts the Dark Lord made. Is that alright with you?"
Fred Weasley - at least, Conrad assumed this one of the twins must be Fred - stared delightedly at his brother. "Perce, did you just make a joke?"
"Not a very good one, apparently," Percy said, disgruntled.
"No, seriously," Fred began, but Conrad's attention was wrenched away by his radio.
"Harry!" Ron shouted urgently. "Get away from the walls!"
Conrad had his wand up and was casting a shield spell without conscious thought. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he saw the outer wall of the corridor bow inwards, exploding under some terrific blast. He didn't have time to think, he just knew that he had to protect his friends, and he put every ounce of power he had into expanding his shields over them. He was shocked to feel an answering pulse of power rush through him, strengthening his shields far beyond what he could do himself and filling his vision with light.
"Well, this is interesting," an unexpected voice said calmly. Conrad's vision cleared to show him Simon leaning in to inspect Fred Weasley. Weasley himself was immobile, as was everyone else and all the rubble flying from what had been the castle wall, all seemingly covered by a soft golden light. The hub-bub of battle was silent, too; as far as Conrad could tell, time seemed to have stopped. "What's happening?" he asked shakily.
"My..." Simon paused, uncertain. "Gardeners? I'm never quite sure what to call them. Anyway, they decided to let you have the power you wanted. I just came to see what you were doing."
"Power? The Grove?" Conrad's mind was awhirl. The druids could have fed the natural magic of the grove straight to his wand, he supposed. It was the sort of thing they would do, too, no matter that he knew it was a bad idea to give him that much responsibility.
Simon hummed abstractedly, turning his attention back to Weasley. "My memory is fuzzy, but I didn't think you were supposed to throw large stones at humans. They're so fragile."
Conrad looked at the huge lump of masonry that was about to take Fred's head off and started panicking in earnest. "You're not supposed to," he said, and tried to reinforce his shields around the man. Nothing happened.
"You can't do anything about it now," Simon said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're between heartbeats."
His heart wasn't beating, Conrad realised. "Am I dead?" he whispered.
Simon frowned. "Why do you keep asking that?" he said. "I told you, we're not really here, we're in my head. Well, your head, I suppose. Why do humans have so much trouble with time anyway? You get so worried when it doesn't plod along at the speed you think it should."
It was all in his imagination, Conrad repeated to himself. He was talking to Simon, but only in a split second in his head. No, it still didn't make any sense. Not even the questions he got in reply sounded much like the man he knew. "Are you really Simon?" he asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.
Simon frowned again in brief concentration. "Yes and no," he said. "I'm not his... spark? Oh, soul, what a strange idea. You make identity so hard, like it's something that can only be in one place."
"It can be in more than one?" Conrad asked, even more confused.
"I'm here and there," Simon pointed out. Or the echo of Simon that something else, something big, was using. Conrad knew he was going to have a massive headache at the end of all this. "And you can't even keep that straight, calling yourself different names as if you were different people."
"I am a different person," Conrad said a bit more defiantly than he had meant. "I've changed." Almost every idea he'd had about what was important had been shaken up and thrown away.
"This is that time thing again, isn't it?" Simon asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. "Everything changes, that's the point. Even stones change, though they spend so much time asleep it's a wonder they notice."
"They do? Why?" Conrad wondered whether he ought to be annoyed at having what he went through - what Simon went through - trivialised like that. He was too confused to care much.
Simon shrugged. "Growth is change," he said simply. He looked back at Weasley. "So is death."
Conrad felt something cold twist in the pit of his stomach. "Can you save him?" he asked.
"That's Draco Malfoy's job," Simon said, suddenly all smiles, "and I think it's time to let you get back to it."
"Goodbye, Simon," Conrad whispered. He watched as long as he dared as the golden light folded in on itself. Then his world narrowed back down to the shields he was pouring power into. He felt something hit him, knock him off his feet and drive the breath out of him as he fell, but it didn't matter. The only thing that was important was protecting his friends.
The moment of silence as everything stopped moving seemed to last forever. Draco dropped his spell and opened his eyes to find Amy on top of him, obviously trying to shield him with her own body. Elsewhere he could see Harry adjusting his glasses and Fred staring wide-eyed at the block of stone that apparently hadn't killed him, and heard Percy whining from the corner. He turned his attention back to Amy. "Hello, beautiful," he murmured. She flushed, smiled and leaned in to kiss him.
"Spiders!" Ron's voice shouted in his ear. "There are spiders on the East Wall."
"We're on it," Harry said, helping the Weasleys upright. He tossed the Diadem to Hermione, who chose that moment to appear. "Here, kill this," he told her.
Conrad let Amy help him to his feet, feeling better than he had done for years. He was standing among the best wizards of his age, with this amazing, beautiful girl at his side. Together they could face anything.
Fandoms: Buffy/Hollyoaks/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Finally our heroes get to Hogwarts. Now they just have to stay alive.
Amy was beyond impressed. She had vaguely got the idea that Conrad's kind of wizard threw magic around like water, and being blipped around the place was now nausea-inducing rather than amazing, but the castle these kids used as a school was something else. The stuff they took for granted, chatting with paintings and ghosts like it was nothing new... well, it just made it clearer how insignificant Con- Draco must find her flat.
Impressed was, unfortunately, having to take a back seat at the moment. Things had been spiralling out of control ever since Buffy together with Ron's least-favourite brother had led them through the secret passage into a room full of schoolkids determined to start a revolution right then. Things had been sticky when they had noticed Conrad, but a combination of Harry, Ron and Hermione vouching for him and Amy and the other slayers glowering at anyone who even looked like they might bad-mouth him had smoothed things over. Well, maybe 'smoothed' wasn't the right word, but at least the overt threats had stopped.
Then Harry had made his impassioned plea about a lost diadem, which Amy presumed was the last of the known horcruxes. When Harry, Buffy and the girl they had rescued, Luna, went off to look at some statue for clues, Willow and Kennedy had promptly enlisted her and Conrad to try to keep control of the kids. That had worked right up until alarms started sounding, at which point the kids all charged without any kind of plan. Fortunately they hadn't encountered anyone other than teachers the kids respected, but that hadn't made Amy feel any better about being swept along in the crush. The fact that no one else had done any better did not improve her mood any.
They had ended up in what Conrad told her was the Great Hall. It was amazing; Amy had no idea how they made the ceiling look like outside or kept hundreds of candles burning without dripping wax on everyone, she just knew that it was beautiful. She managed to stop gawping in time to see Buffy stalking towards them.
"One of the bad guys blind-sided us," Buffy said grumpily. "We took him out, but not before he sent up the alarm."
"They were waiting for you?" Kennedy asked.
"For Harry, but yes," Buffy confirmed. "They knew we'd be looking at that bust."
"We must be on the right track then," Conrad said. "The Dark Lord wouldn't have watchdogs here if there wasn't something to guard."
"You can use his name," Buffy told him. "I'm pretty sure Voldy knows that Harry's here by now. If he didn't guess when the balloon went up, the Principal will have told him by now."
"Professor Snape escaped?" Amy asked. She knew Conrad would want to know; he had explained all about his godfather to her and she had seen at the time how conflicted he was.
Buffy nodded. "Jumped out of a window and flew off like some giant bat," she said, "which is apparently majorly impressive." Conrad's eyes certainly went wide at the news, Amy noticed. "Plus, according to Harry, old Snake-Face is on his way here anyway. Apparently he's figured out we've been destroying his toys, and he's really pissed about it."
"Definitely on the right track," Willow muttered.
"May I have your attention please?" The elderly witch must have done something magic to her voice, because her extremely Scottish accent cut easily through the hubbub. None of the kids looked the least bit surprised. The woman - Professor McGonagall, Conrad whispered - outlined the situation to the kids as more wizards and slayers filtered into the hall. Amy felt scared, though she tried not to show it; this had been supposed to be a quick, stealthy raid, and she had only come along because Conr- Draco insisted on going with Harry. Now it was shaping up to be a full-scale battle, Amy was painfully aware of how inexperienced she was. The last fight she'd been in had nearly killed her, and this one promised to be worse.
"I know that you are preparing to fight." The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, rolling through Amy's head and interrupting McGonagall's stiff reassurances. Judging from the stifled screams, this was Voldemort himself. Amy shivered.
"Your efforts are futile," the voice continued. "You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.
"Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded.
"You have until midnight."
The silence that followed was almost tangible. Buffy didn't let it fester. "Resistance is futile," she snarked. From the limited number of frightened giggles, most of the wizards didn't get the reference.
"But Potter's there," one of the older girls said unsteadily, pointing to Harry. "Someone-"
"No." Conrad's voice wasn't loud, but it still shocked the girl into silence. It also made Harry's schoolmates, who had looked ready to leap to his defence, stop and stare. Amy couldn't help grinning with pride.
"I know you're scared, Pansy," Conrad continued. "I spent most of last year terrified and I'm not much better right now. The trouble is, handing over Potter isn't going to make that go away. V- Voldemort is never going to make you feel safe. Even his rewards have threats in them. If you ever want to stop feeling so afraid, you need Harry to win."
No one, it seemed, knew how to take that. The girl Conrad had spoken to looked gobsmacked and betrayed, and her friends were no better. Harry's friends looked to be mostly confused, though Harry himself was relaxed and a couple of older red-heads near him were grinning from ear to ear.
"Miss Parkinson," Professor McGonagall said after a moment, "I would understand entirely if you wished to lead the lower years to safety. I do not want to put anyone at odds with their relatives. And yes, Mr Malfoy," She continued as Conrad opened his mouth, "I am well aware that you will be staying to defend the castle. I would rather none of my students were placed in danger, but as Miss Summers pointed out, we cannot readily stop you."
"Believe me, I've spent years trying," Buffy called out, sending an amused glance Willow's way.
They gathered a lot of curious looks as the younger kids were chivied out of the hall. Amy supposed that they must look odd to the student wizards, a bunch of teenaged girls with lots of obvious old-fashioned weaponry and no visible wands. The ones who had been born into wizarding families probably didn't even know what Buffy was doing when she whipped out her phone and started talking into it. That reminded Amy; she needed to warn her father that she wasn't going to be home any time soon, and he might be stuck babysitting until morning. She got out her own mobile, but stared in confusion as the display flickered wildly.
"Here, let me," Willow said, taking the phone off her. She covered it with her other hand and muttered something for a good half minute before handing it back. The display looked normal now, Amy saw as she gingerly took it. "Magic can be hard on electronics if you don't protect them," Willow explained, "and this place has a lot of magic. That should hold it for a few hours. I'll fix it properly when we have more time."
"Thanks," Amy said sincerely. She felt horribly outclassed once again. She tried not to think about it as she spoke to her father, but she couldn't help wondering what she hoped to achieve here. She was fast and strong, but this place, this fight was all about magic and she didn't have any of that. She had come because she needed to protect Conr- Draco, couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt. Now she was here she didn't know what she could do. This was his world, not hers.
Buffy caught her eye as she finished. "You OK?" she asked.
Amy thought about lying until she saw the concern on Buffy's face. "It's just..." She gestured helplessly at the castle around them.
"I know," Buffy said gently. "This is big. We're coming in on the end of a war, and only a handful of Slayers have any idea what that really means. Plus, you've got a boyfriend in the thick of it. That's never easy to handle."
"He's not... We're not.." The claim stuck in Amy's throat. She had woken up with Conrad holding her, making her feel precious again, and she couldn't remember being happier. She was going to lose him back to this magical world, but she had him for now. That would have to be enough. "I don't want him to get hurt," she admitted.
"You are officially on detached duty," Buffy said. "Stick to your boy like glue, OK?" When Amy nodded, Buffy grinned and steered her back to where Conrad was waiting. Willow joined them moments later, tucking her own cellphone away. "Hey Wills, what's the what?"
"I was just bringing Xander up to date," Willow explained. "The guys are ready and waiting if we need them."
"Vi and Rona's squads are on their way through the secret passage by now," Buffy reported. "Apparently that floo thing is a really wild ride. Where's Kennedy?"
"She took her squad down to the main entrance," Willow said. "We figured it was the most likely breech point." She looked at Conrad, who shrugged.
"Once the wards are down, the Death Eaters can apparate into anywhere they can visualise clearly," he said. "They'll probably go for the entrance all the same."
"OK." Buffy frowned. "I need someone who knows the castle so I can figure out where to put the other squads."
"Potter," Conrad said promptly. "Or the Weasley twins, but they're busy with the other entrances."
"Where is Harry anyway?" Amy asked. She hopped onto a bench, but couldn't catch sight of any of the Trio. At least not until she saw Harry hurry back into the Great Hall, an excited look on his face.
"Where's Ron and Hermione?" Harry demanded as he rushed up to them.
"They were supposed to be with you," Buffy said pointedly.
Harry frowned, evidently not taking Buffy's hint. "Hermione has the sword," he said.
Willow perked up. "You found it?" she asked.
"I know where to look," Harry said. "It might take a while to actually find it."
"OK, that takes priority," Buffy said firmly. She looked at Amy and Conrad. "You two go with him, make sure no one tries to take Voldeborg up on his offer."
"Here, take these," Willow said, fishing some ear-pieces out of a pocket. "I figured that ordinary non-magical comms would be more reliable for once, at least once I magic-hardened them." Amy thanked her as she fitted her radio, following Buffy's lead in making sure the inconspicuous microphone was firmly taped to her jawline. She turned to help the wizards, but both Harry and Conrad seemed to have it well in hand.
"These may not get through to us where we're going," Harry warned. "I know it blocks magical detection."
"We'll deal," Buffy said. "Just call back in when you get clear. Now all I have to do is scare up a teacher who will actually stop and talk. Someone must have a map of this place."
"I can do better than that," Harry said. He reached into his robes, pulled out a sheet of paper and waved his wand over it. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he declared.
"Wow," Willow said as a map appeared on the paper. Amy could see it was covered in annotations - names, it looked like - that seemed to be moving. Amy was amazed all over again.
"Real-time update and everything," Buffy said appreciatively as she took the map. "You sure know how to please a lady."
Amy tried not to grin too much as Harry blushed at the innuendo. "Come on," she said, "let's go before the bad guys attack."
******
Conrad baulked as Potter stopped in front of a horribly familiar wall. He had spent far too much time the previous year in the room hidden behind that wall, getting ever more scared and desperate. He hadn't really been paying attention when they had arrived, hadn't realised where in the castle they were, but as Potter had lead them back and he recognised more of the route, Conrad's heart had begun to sink. Now here was the proof; Harry's "Room of Requirement" was the same room Draco had used to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.
"Here we are," Harry said as the door appeared. He threw it open, and Conrad froze at the awfully familiar sight it revealed.
"Conrad?" Amy must have noticed him stop, because she was staring at him in concern. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate.
"The Room of Lost Things," he managed to whisper.
Potter turned back to them, the smile falling from his face. "Oh, I should have thought! I'm sorry," he said. Amy frowned at him, so of course Potter had to explain. Conrad braced himself for yet more humiliation.
"Ma-, er, Conrad spent a lot of time in this room last year," Potter said with unexpected delicacy. "Old Snakeface had set him a pretty impossible task, but he actually found a way. I can't imagine it was much fun, though," he finished, looking at Conrad sympathetically.
Conrad was grateful for Harry's tact, but he knew he had to tell Amy the rest of it. He owed her the whole shameful truth of who Draco Malfoy was. "I let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts," he said. "I managed to repair a Vanishing Cabinet so that they could use it to get past the wards, and... And I killed Dumbledore."
"No you didn't," Harry countered quickly and firmly. "I was there on the tower, I saw you disarm Dumbledore, but that's all. You aren't a killer."
"He's still dead because of me," Conrad insisted.
Amy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "You were bullied into it," she said, "but even when you couldn't see any other options you still didn't cross that line. I'm really proud that you were so strong."
"Think of it this way," Harry said mischievously. "You were good enough to disarm Dumbledore." He paused and looked at Conrad consideringly. "You beat Dumbledore..."
"Shouldn't we be looking for the Diadem?" Conrad asked before Harry could say anything more embarrassing about him. He didn't understand why he was surrounded by people who refused to believe he was weak and unreliable, and he was a little worried about forgetting himself and starting to believe them.
"Alright," Amy said gently, and Conrad loved her a little bit more for letting him off. She led him into the huge, junk-filled room. "What exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
"It's a tiara," Harry said. "It's not actually all that flashy if it's what I think it is. I put it on this really ugly bust wearing a wig... Somewhere around here, I think."
They searched hurriedly. Even so, Conrad was horribly conscious of the passing time, and he wasn't unduly surprised when Amy glanced at her watch and announced, "It's gone midnight. The attack will have started."
"We need to get a move on," Harry muttered. "It must be here somewhere... Aha!" He lunged for what Conrad had to admit was a stupendously ugly bust and came up with a small tiara, not excessively bejewelled though with some intricate metalwork. It did look surprisingly ordinary.
"Expelliamus!" The tiara went flying out of Harry's hand. Conrad turned, wand ready, to see Blaise Zabini standing between two piles of junk, flanked by Greg and Vince. "Where's Granger?" Blaise demanded.
"No idea," Conrad said promptly. Blaise looked at him narrowly, and Conrad realised that he was going to have to think more like his old self if he was going to keep this from getting very nasty indeed.
"I heard her talking," Blaise shot back. "Where is she?" He must have mistaken Amy's voice for Granger's, Conrad reasoned, and somehow Amy must have hidden from them. He felt proud of her once again, and manfully didn't look in the direction he had last seen her.
"She's not here," Harry said coldly. "I don't know what you heard, but it wasn't her."
A line of attack occurred to Conrad, and he tried to smirk the way he used to. "I hesitate to ask, Blaise," he drawled, "but how long have you been hearing Granger when she isn't there? It's really not a healthy sign, obsessing over someone like that. And heaven only knows what Weasley will think."
"Who cares what Weasley thinks," Vince grunted.
"Apart from Granger?"
"Enough about Granger," Blaise snapped, sparing Conrad the need to actually start listing people. He lifted an eyebrow instead, knowing Blaise would interpret it as taking note of mentioning Hermione again. Blaise's eye twitched. "You're coming with us," he said through gritted teeth. "Both of you."
"I don't think so," Potter said. He had used Conrad's distraction to draw his own wand, but being a Gryffindor he hadn't taken any more advantage. "There are only three of you."
Greg frowned. "There are only two of you," he said. Potter raised an eyebrow at him, which Conrad could have told him wouldn't work. Subtlety always went straight over Greg's head.
"Harry's an excellent fighter," he said gently, "and sorry Greg, but you aren't."
"But there's only two of you," Greg insisted stubbornly.
Harry gave a frustrated sigh. "Look, there's only a couple of students I'm not sure I can beat easily," he said. "One of them's here, but he's standing beside me. Draco and me are easily a match for you three."
"Now Potter's praising Malfoy," Blaise sad consideringly. "Is there something we should be telling the Weaselette?"
Harry was clearly thrown off his stride by the innuendo, but Conrad had long since lost any embarrassment over sex. No insinuation could possibly be as bad as what he had done - no, as what had been done to him. Besides, he and Ron had already laughed themselves silly at the idea. "He's handsome enough," he allowed, grinning a little to throw Blaise off-balance, "but I don't think he's interested. Besides, my girlfriend would object."
Blase gaped, evidently not expecting Conrad to be so blase. Now Conrad thought of it, the old him probably would have had a hissy fit about family honour and his own manhood. Unfortunately Harry was no better than Blaise, while Vince and Greg just looked puzzled; Draco didn't have quite the surprise he wanted to start the duel.
"You're...?" Blaise managed eventually. He stepped a little closer. "Wait, you have a girlfriend?"
Amy melted out of the shadows, grabbed Vince and Greg and smacked their heads together. Blaise turned as they slumped to the ground, and Amy grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping him spellcasting. "Yes, he does," she said. "And for the record, I do object."
Conrad beamed at her. It was on the tip of his tongue to say that he would have been disappointed if she didn't object, but he recognised the Malfoyishness of the remark in time. "We'll deal with these guys, Harry," he said instead. "You find the diadem."
It only took a few moments for Conrad and Amy to disarm the boys and tie them up with conjured rope. Blaise was shocked into silence at first, before glaring furiously at Conrad. "You traitor," he hissed. "I don't know you any more. Consorting with Mudbloods and Muggles and Merlin knows what else? After all the Dark Lord has done for you-"
"The Dark Lord gave me an impossible task to punish my father," Conrad broke in harshly. "He made it clear that what I managed wasn't good enough. So I ran. The Muggles?" He paused, looking at Amy. "They saved my life. They had absolutely no reason to, but they saved me, took me in, and put me back together when all that was left of me was a few broken bits. And they may not have magic like we do, but it turns out there are some things their technology is better at."
"All Voldemort wants is power," Harry said as he reappeared, the tiara looped over his arm. "He'll use you for as long as you're useful, then if you're lucky he won't use you as an example. Come on, let's go."
They stunned Blaise and the others, and locked them into a convenient wardrobe. It wasn't ideal, but Conrad hoped it would keep them out of the way for long enough. He really didn't want any more deaths on his conscience; his part in Dumbledore's death was quite enough.
The radios sputtered back to life as they left the room. Conrad started in surprise; he had forgotten he was wearing it, and besides he really hadn't expected to hear Weasley's voice snapping out orders.
Amy lifted a hand to her ear. "This is Amy," she said. "We're back." It felt very odd to Conrad to hear her both in front of him and directly in his ear.
"Gotcha," Ron said promptly. "We saw Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle head in after you. Are you OK?"
"They're unconscious in a cupboard," Harry said. "We're fine, and we found what we were looking for."
Weasley's sigh of relief came over the radio clearly. "Hermione's on her way to you already, she'll be there in a minute. Fred and Percy are in the corridor to your left, they could use a hand."
"On it," Harry said, already turning into the corridor. In short order Conrad found himself helping to knock the Minister of Magic out. It was quite invigorating, really.
"Oh Minister," Percy Weasley said to the man who appeared to be slowly turning into a sea urchin, "before I resign, the Watcher's Council wanted you to know that they're here to destroy some artefacts the Dark Lord made. Is that alright with you?"
Fred Weasley - at least, Conrad assumed this one of the twins must be Fred - stared delightedly at his brother. "Perce, did you just make a joke?"
"Not a very good one, apparently," Percy said, disgruntled.
"No, seriously," Fred began, but Conrad's attention was wrenched away by his radio.
"Harry!" Ron shouted urgently. "Get away from the walls!"
Conrad had his wand up and was casting a shield spell without conscious thought. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he saw the outer wall of the corridor bow inwards, exploding under some terrific blast. He didn't have time to think, he just knew that he had to protect his friends, and he put every ounce of power he had into expanding his shields over them. He was shocked to feel an answering pulse of power rush through him, strengthening his shields far beyond what he could do himself and filling his vision with light.
"Well, this is interesting," an unexpected voice said calmly. Conrad's vision cleared to show him Simon leaning in to inspect Fred Weasley. Weasley himself was immobile, as was everyone else and all the rubble flying from what had been the castle wall, all seemingly covered by a soft golden light. The hub-bub of battle was silent, too; as far as Conrad could tell, time seemed to have stopped. "What's happening?" he asked shakily.
"My..." Simon paused, uncertain. "Gardeners? I'm never quite sure what to call them. Anyway, they decided to let you have the power you wanted. I just came to see what you were doing."
"Power? The Grove?" Conrad's mind was awhirl. The druids could have fed the natural magic of the grove straight to his wand, he supposed. It was the sort of thing they would do, too, no matter that he knew it was a bad idea to give him that much responsibility.
Simon hummed abstractedly, turning his attention back to Weasley. "My memory is fuzzy, but I didn't think you were supposed to throw large stones at humans. They're so fragile."
Conrad looked at the huge lump of masonry that was about to take Fred's head off and started panicking in earnest. "You're not supposed to," he said, and tried to reinforce his shields around the man. Nothing happened.
"You can't do anything about it now," Simon said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We're between heartbeats."
His heart wasn't beating, Conrad realised. "Am I dead?" he whispered.
Simon frowned. "Why do you keep asking that?" he said. "I told you, we're not really here, we're in my head. Well, your head, I suppose. Why do humans have so much trouble with time anyway? You get so worried when it doesn't plod along at the speed you think it should."
It was all in his imagination, Conrad repeated to himself. He was talking to Simon, but only in a split second in his head. No, it still didn't make any sense. Not even the questions he got in reply sounded much like the man he knew. "Are you really Simon?" he asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.
Simon frowned again in brief concentration. "Yes and no," he said. "I'm not his... spark? Oh, soul, what a strange idea. You make identity so hard, like it's something that can only be in one place."
"It can be in more than one?" Conrad asked, even more confused.
"I'm here and there," Simon pointed out. Or the echo of Simon that something else, something big, was using. Conrad knew he was going to have a massive headache at the end of all this. "And you can't even keep that straight, calling yourself different names as if you were different people."
"I am a different person," Conrad said a bit more defiantly than he had meant. "I've changed." Almost every idea he'd had about what was important had been shaken up and thrown away.
"This is that time thing again, isn't it?" Simon asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. "Everything changes, that's the point. Even stones change, though they spend so much time asleep it's a wonder they notice."
"They do? Why?" Conrad wondered whether he ought to be annoyed at having what he went through - what Simon went through - trivialised like that. He was too confused to care much.
Simon shrugged. "Growth is change," he said simply. He looked back at Weasley. "So is death."
Conrad felt something cold twist in the pit of his stomach. "Can you save him?" he asked.
"That's Draco Malfoy's job," Simon said, suddenly all smiles, "and I think it's time to let you get back to it."
"Goodbye, Simon," Conrad whispered. He watched as long as he dared as the golden light folded in on itself. Then his world narrowed back down to the shields he was pouring power into. He felt something hit him, knock him off his feet and drive the breath out of him as he fell, but it didn't matter. The only thing that was important was protecting his friends.
The moment of silence as everything stopped moving seemed to last forever. Draco dropped his spell and opened his eyes to find Amy on top of him, obviously trying to shield him with her own body. Elsewhere he could see Harry adjusting his glasses and Fred staring wide-eyed at the block of stone that apparently hadn't killed him, and heard Percy whining from the corner. He turned his attention back to Amy. "Hello, beautiful," he murmured. She flushed, smiled and leaned in to kiss him.
"Spiders!" Ron's voice shouted in his ear. "There are spiders on the East Wall."
"We're on it," Harry said, helping the Weasleys upright. He tossed the Diadem to Hermione, who chose that moment to appear. "Here, kill this," he told her.
Conrad let Amy help him to his feet, feeling better than he had done for years. He was standing among the best wizards of his age, with this amazing, beautiful girl at his side. Together they could face anything.