Into the Woods, Part 3
Notes in Part 1.
Part the Third
True Prophecy
The first thing Nuala did in Scotland was to hug her friends tightly and express thanks that they were fine. The second thing she did was give her first True Speech.
Her eyes had glazed over and she had shifted to look at the old bearded man. The voice that came out of her mouth was not her own. She had heard the Clurachan tell her of such things when they happened to him, but she had never been the one in the family who Spoke True.
The dead shall rise and walk the lands,
Born of death and blood of child's hands,
Carrying destruction in skulls of green,
Pestilence and death in shadows unseen.
The child shall waken, lightning to tree,
To break the hold of terror over bent knee.
Out of darkness comes yellow lampen eyes
To see the dark and narrow path to prize.
His mate will walk amongst kingdoms old
Their companion thousands ages old.
Their magic new and old and wild,
The knowledge born to save the child.
Then Nuala came back to herself and sighed. "Oh bugger, not me, too."
"Nuala?" Virginia asked, concerned.
The old man grinned. "How very lovely. I was hoping you would be the one Cymbeline Trelawney was speaking about."
"Wizard, now is not the time for this," Nuala said. She was trying to be polite, but there were more questions than answers in her mind. First and foremost, she wanted to ask the Clurachan if headaches were normal. Then she remembered that he was off gallivanting around the world as the boon companion to Prince Wendell. And probably shagging the boy rotten. And that he was probably the blonde drunk Adonis her wolf had remembered. And that she was now caught up in a war not her own. "I need to sit down."
Remus was at her side in an instant. "Albus, she probably needs to rest. I don't think she's ever Apparated before."
Dumbledore waved his concerns aside. "Young Nuala here has crossed dimensional lines. I should think a little transportation shouldn't be so harsh."
Nuala looked at Dumbledore and felt more than a little afraid. "Who are you?"
"I'd like to help you," Dumbledore said. "But in doing so, you would all be helping us as well. You see, there's more to that prophecy, but not much. You missed the part about how to save the child."
Nuala straightened in the chair angrily. "But there is no more! The Speech will rise when it's ready and no more! And if there's no more to the Speech, it will not be said!"
Dumbledore's head bowed. "I'm sorry. I was hoping Cymbeline was right. But I see now that she was wrong, there is no more to it."
"You think this is us," Virginia said suddenly. "You think we're the ones to save your precious Boy Who Lived." All eyes were on her now. "What possessed you to do such a thing to him anyway? He's just a boy! You can't expect him to take on an entire army!"
Dumbledore sat down heavily in his chair. "And yet, this is precisely what we must do. I'm afraid that the hour grows near where this school is no longer a haven." He steepled his fingers together and looked at the four adults assembled in front of him. "Our magicks have failed us, our defense is failing. They outnumber us and kill innocents out of spite. If I believe that you hold the key to success, I must ask for help."
"What the hell do you think we can do that you can't?" Wolf asked. "We don't know magic! How are we supposed to stop that?!"
Dumbledore looked at Nuala. "My dear... isn't there a spell?"
Nuala covered her face with her hands. "I won't do it, I won't."
Virginia turned to Nuala. "What is it? What?"
"There's an old spell. It's one of the strongest protection magicks known to the Fae, but it's also one of the most dangerous. It's been told that it was cast wrongly, and that's what led to the Sundering, the separation of Faerie from this land."
"But if it works?"
"Then any evil touching it would dissolve into nothingness."
Wolf sighed. "All or nothing, eh? Sounds familiar."
"You will need help. But while the Aurors fight, we have capable students that may help you in your task," Dumbledore said. "I believe you'd find much help here, if you know what hidden corners to look in." At this, he smiled at Virginia and stood. "But I do believe that you should all rest. It's been a very trying day."
The four were shuffled politely but efficiently out of Dumbledore's office. "I never know how he does that," Remus said ruefully. "Well, I suppose I should let you all talk. You probably have a lot to catch up on."
Nuala touched Remus's arm, stopping him. Virginia and Wolf shared a glance. "Why don't you show us a good place to talk?"
"Or how about, you two talk? We're good. See you." Wolf grabbed Virginia and raced down the hall toward the library.
Nuala and Remus looked at each other and then laughed. "I see where they're going with this," Nuala said wryly.
"Offended?"
"Not in the least."
"I'm a werewolf, you know."
"Of course. I'm a fairy, you know."
Remus shrugged. "Doesn't bother me."
"Good. Now why don't you show me around and introduce me?"
***
Wolf and Virginia stopped running when they were some distance from library. "The look on her face!" Virginia cried. "Do you think she'll be mad at us?"
"Nah. She likes the scent of him, I can tell."
"You sure?"
"Nothing a good girl likes better than a bad ol' wolf boy to stir things up." Wolf gathered Virginia up in his arms. "Am I wrong?"
"No." Virginia kissed him. "But I do think we need to get back to our rooms. What if they saw us like this?"
"Oh, let 'em watch! It's legal!" Wolf spun Virginia around in a circle, hearing her shriek with laughter. "I love you, Ginny. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, whatever it was."
Someone clapped behind them. Both Virginia and Wolf turned to look. "Aw... isn't that sweet? Little Ginny all grown up. You've changed, but I think Our Lord will still be pleased to see you again."
"What the-"
The woman stunned them both, then shook out her long black hair. Lines were etched into her face. She had once been beautiful, but some kind of trauma had aged her horribly. She bent down and pulled Virginia away from Wolf. "Don't worry, little boy. We'll take good care of her. Until Lord Voldemort is ready for her. I can't promise anything then, and I usually break all of my toys."
Her laughter was horrible to hear, and Wolf couldn't move anything but his eyes. She laughed all the harder at his terror. "Tell that old fool we've got the girl. He knows about the High Vesting Ceremony. Tell him we'll be ready for him."
The woman with black hair pulled a silvery cloak over herself and Virginia's frozen form, disappearing from view. He was paralyzed, but desperately wanted to howl with rage and fear. If anything happened to Virginia or their child...
He didn't know how long he remained frozen there. He heard the voices first. "Oh Merlin, Draco, look!" a girl's voice cried.
"Finite incantem," the boy named Draco cried, casting the spell on Wolf.
Wolf howled, the pent up frustration finally released. "I'll kill the bitch!" he raged. "How dare she take her?!"
"What? Who?" the girl asked, confused. She looked to be about seventeen, with bright red hair, brown eyes and freckles across the bridge of her nose.
"That bitch! She took Ginny!"
"But I'm right here," the redheaded girl said, confused.
Draco's eyes widened. "Virginia. They took Virginia. They must have heard you call her Ginny," Draco said. He turned to Ginny. "I told you something was happening, I told you! You should've gone into hiding!"
Wolf watched as the girl touched Draco's sleeve gently. "Who took her? Who took your Virginia?" she asked.
"I don't know, she didn't exactly introduce herself," Wolf spat bitterly. "She had black hair and she was insane! She said something about a Vesting Ceremony, and she disappeared with my wife!"
They were attracting quite a large crowd now, but Draco didn't notice. "Did she have a scar in front of her left ear?"
"Yes, thin and jagged. I saw it as we fell."
"Bellatrix," Draco muttered. "The Death Eaters got her."
Wolf howled at the ceiling again, hands fisted at his sides. "I'll rip her heart out with my bare hands! How dare they touch what's mine!"
Draco nodded, approving of the words. "Look. We'll have to get you out of this hallway, too many ears..." Draco and Ginny could see Ron, Hermione and Harry wading through the bewildered students. "Too late," he muttered.
"What's going on here? Where's Virginia?" Harry asked. "I thought we were going to meet in one of the ballrooms?"
"They took her!" Wolf raged, pointing at Draco. "He knows who did it!"
Instantly, wands were out. With a soft cry, Ginny rushed in front of him. "Gin, get out of the way," Ron said, teeth grit. "He'll need to be taken into custody."
"You don't understand, he wasn't involved!"
"Wolf just said..."
"He knew her, I didn't say he did it! You people deaf?" Wolf bellowed. "Now how are we going to get my wife back?"
Now teachers were approaching the library. "Good heavens!" McGonagall cried, seeing the mob. "Everyone! Back to your common rooms at once!"
Hearing her commanding tones, the Prefects in the crowd begin shooing students away from the library. Ron and Hermione kept their wands out, trained on Draco. Harry looked over at McGonagall uncertainly. "Professor, they've taken Virginia."
McGonagall sucked in a deep breath. "To Dumbledore's office, all of you! I'll get Remus and Nuala. Hurry!"
***
Nuala later remembered that meeting with a touch of bitterness. So much for True Speech. Why hadn't she been able to see her friend getting kidnapped by a ruthless killer? That was so much more useful than repeating a prophecy already told.
There wasn't a question now about brewing the potion for the protection spell. If she made it large enough, it could cover all of the British Isles. Then they could be rid forever of the taint hovering over it.
"Are you sure?" Remus asked gently, giving her the bag of items she had bought in his friend's shop. "You said it's dangerous."
"Wouldn't you do anything in your power to save your friends?"
Remus thought of Sirius, of Lily and James, and finally of Harry. "Yes."
"Then I'm doing this. I don't know what a High Vesting Ceremony is, but I don't think Virginia wants to find out."
While Ron, Hermione and Harry didn't trust Draco within an inch of his life, they trusted Ginny's judgment. If she said that he had been tutoring her in Potions, they trusted her. He didn't bother to even look at the Trio, but pored through the books Snape had brought to Dumbledore's office. He had quickly gotten over the shock of finding out that Snape was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix and had simply asked to help. He remembered Virginia's smile in the library, her easy acceptance of his presence and the book she had been reading. She was Muggle, but she wasn't all that bad. She just didn't know the first thing about Malfoys. And she certainly didn't deserve to die in a Death Eater ceremony.
"There's one problem with this. Well, two," Nuala admitted.
"What?" Wolf asked, looking up.
"One part of the potion has been extinct for centuries. And it takes two years for the base of the potion to brew properly."
Nuala winced, expecting Wolf to be furious. He looked stunned instead. "But..."
"There's a way... I could always try to return to the Dreaming and ask Lord Shaper to give me the potion. If someone dreamed of it, he could find it and give me some."
"Isn't that risky?" Draco asked. "I remember reading about that somewhere..."
"In History of Magic," Hermione supplied. "Ethelred the Sleeper. He tried to strike a deal with the Lord of Dreams, but failed. He never woke up, and his tribe lost the battle."
Nuala sighed. "It's different. I lived there once. And the Lord Shaper is different now. He might be able to help me."
Remus gave her hand a squeeze. "What do we do?"
***
The Dreaming was different from what Nuala remembered. She wandered around the fields, waving at her old friends. She approached the gates and smiled at the unicorn and griffin guarding the door. "Hello. I'd like to see the Lord Shaper, please."
"Who asks the way?" the unicorn asked, dropping his head down low to see her better.
"Nuala of the Bright Folk. I used to live here."
"Why, so you did. When our Lord wore another face. Enter freely, Nuala of the Bright Folk. And welcome back."
"Thank you." She stroked their heads briefly, then walked into the palace.
It was as if no time had passed at all. Seven years were a magic number, and she had changed mightily in the seven years since she had been released of her service in the Dreaming and decided to leave Faerie for Earth. She was sorry to know that the former Dream was dead, that the Furies had to kill him. She hoped it was painless.
Nuala took the straight path to the Heart of the Dreaming. She remembered cleaning those steps, the stained glass windows. She remembered dancing on the dais while singing, she remembered chatting with Lucius in the Great Library. So many memories...
Dream was there in the throne room, the Heart of the Dreaming. He was sitting on the chair she used to polish meticulously until it shone. He was dressed in white, wearing an emerald on his chest. He seemed to have a faint smile on his face.
"Hello, Dream," Nuala said, bowing. She was dressed in her best Faerie finery in her dream, though she still looked like herself. She had stopped dreaming of glamour years ago, and didn't miss it.
It's Daniel, now, actually.
"Hello, Daniel," Nuala said, her mouth quirked in a smile. "I'm Nuala. I was here when the other Dream was here."
Yes, I remember you from my other self. I've followed your dreams, Nuala. I'm glad to see you're happy.
Nuala smiled. "Thank you, Daniel. That means a lot to me."
I'm not the same, Nuala, Daniel said gently, rising. He got up from his throne and walked down the steps deliberately. I'm not the one you loved.
"I know. That's not why I'm here. I've come to ask a favor."
You've already used your boon, Daniel said, indicating the pendant around her neck.
Nuala flushed. "No, not that. I mean, a real favor. One I'll repay if I can. I need a potion, part of the great Ashdod protection spell."
I know the potion of which you speak. It has not been made since the Sundering, and there are none who would attempt to make it now.
"My friend was kidnapped. I need to get her back."
Daniel nodded, and closed the distance between them. I understand. But those who made the potion have not dreamed of it since long before you were born. I have none to give you, Nuala.
Nuala felt the tears well up in her eyes. "Poor Virginia... I've failed her."
Daniel touched her face gently. Don't cry, Nuala. You haven't failed. Give this necklace back to me. You have no need of it. I'll give you another in its place, and then you will know what to do.
Daniel's hand moved down to the pendant around Nuala's neck. She had worn it every day since Dream had given it to her. He touched the stone and it changed into a tiny hourglass held within several rings.
Good luck, Nuala. You've served me well, and for this I would thank you. Give your love to another that can return it.
On impulse, Nuala grasped Daniel's hand. He was so different from her version of Dream, it was almost as if her Dream was dead. "Did it hurt? I've always hoped that the Kindly Ones didn't hurt you. I never wanted you to be hurt."
No, it didn't hurt, Daniel said with a smile. I took my sister Death's hand, and then this self was reshaped from the child born in this realm. It wasn't painful at all.
"Thank you," Nuala whispered. She leaned up and kissed Daniel's cheek. "I hope you're happier in this form."
Me too, Daniel said wistfully. Now go back to your realm and save your friend. You have the tools to succeed, little one.
And then Nuala woke, wearing a Time Turner around her neck.
***
Over everyone's protests, it was decided. Nuala would go back in time, to before the Sundering, and steal enough of the potion to stop the Death Eaters. Wolf would go with her as protection. When she returned, Harry would walk into the High Vesting Ceremony holding the potion in his hands. He would perform the incantation and then drink the potion.
"And then?" Ron prompted.
"And then we hope it works," Nuala whispered. She threw the chain around herself and Wolf, keeping an eye on Remus. "I'll be back."
"I'll be waiting," he promised. "We haven't finished our conversation yet."
"I'll hold you to it," Nuala said with a grin, beginning to turn the rings.
And then they were gone.
***
Wolf didn't land gracefully. He fell, skidding along the ground, grass and dirt going up his nose. Nuala fell onto her bottom with a thud. Wolf spit out the dirt and wiped his mouth. "So where are we? When are we?"
"We're in the same place Hogwarts will be, only so far in the past that its founders won't be born for several millennia."
Wolf's eyes boggled. "Wow. That's a long time."
"Yes, it is."
"You know the way?"
"Can't you feel the magic?"
"But it's everywhere! I don't know where to look first!"
Nuala heard shouting in the distance and tucked the Time Turner under her blouse. She quickly cast a glamour over them both. She now looked tall, lithe and blonde, wearing Grecian robes. It had been her usual countenance at Faerie Court. Wolf now looked like a brown-haired version of her brother, the Clurachan. "Quickly, follow me. Don't talk to anyone or do anything. We can't impact history!"
"All right, all right. You do the talking, I do the fighting. Deal?"
"Deal."
They walked in silence, tense and alert. Nuala was trying to remember the stories she had heard as a child, long before she had realized that such stories were real. There had been an attack upon the Fae by the Horde. As a last resort, Nuala the Fair had begun to brew the potentially deadly potion. Nuala had always loved the stories, since her name had been in them, though she was anything but fair. Nuala's brewing had been interrupted, possibly by agents of the Horde, and then came the Sundering. It was a massive explosion generated by the force of such a powerful protection spell. Nuala the Fair had likely perished in the attempt to rescue her people and keep them safe.
"Oy there! Fae or foe?"
Nuala turned toward the voice. It was a fairy, far off in the distance, waving at her. "Fae!" she returned easily enough in the Old Tongue. She nodded at Wolf and they headed in the direction of the fairy guard.
"Your companion," the guard asked suspiciously as they approached, "has he no speech?"
"We were attacked by the Horde," Nuala lied. "I know not where, he barely managed to spell us to safety. But the effort has left him deaf."
The guard nodded sagely. "We must get you to Nuala the Fair. She is a skilled healer, and may restore his hearing. It will give her respite from her arduous task."
"My thanks, good sir. It's been a long walk."
"Of course. Continue toward the Evenstar, and you'll see the Fair City."
Nuala and Wolf continued north. "I had to say that you're deaf," Nuala explained. "Just play along."
"What's going on?"
"We're back in the past, just before the Sundering. According to the stories, a Horde spy must have interrupted the efforts of the Ashdod potion, which triggered its premature use. The explosion was so great, it caused the Sundering."
"Then we better hurry, because I smell something like rotten meat nearby."
Nuala gasped. "The Horde. We have to hurry!"
They ran as fast as they could toward the Fair City. As far as Wolf could tell, the source of the rotten meat smell was a stealthy band of three or four stinking members. He and Nuala were ahead of them, but the Horde agents were merely walking. They were taking their time, easing through the underbrush and keeping out of sight. He supposed that they were going to approach the city and storm its gates at nightfall.
"Horde!" Nuala screamed as they passed through the gates. "Horde agents!"
She pulled Wolf along with her. Panic had broken out in the streets, and they had only her memory of tales to direct them to Nuala the Fair. But she remembered the tales well, since they included her namesake. She found the Healer's tent and ducked inside. Nuala the Fair wasn't there, so Nuala scanned the shelves for the extra bottles or jars containing completed parts of the Ashdod potion. She gave Wolf five small bottles that wouldn't be missed and held one of her own. She threw the thin gold chain about Wolf's neck and began to turn the rings of the Time Turner. She heard the dim shouts of panic behind them as someone entered the tent, but they had already vanished.
The unfortunate fairy backed away in surprise, upsetting a corner of the tent. The shelves rattled, and several bottles were knocked off the edge and shattered onto the floor. Black smoke rose lazily from the spilled liquid, and the fairy turned around to face the Orc that had snuck into the city as part of the Horde's advance guard. The fairy screamed as the curved blade sank into his neck, spilling his blood. It spread across the floor, reaching the spilled liquids. The black smoke roiled angrily, and hurtled itself at the startled Orc.
The explosion was massive, and rocked the world. The Sundering was actually so strong that it had the same force of a meteor impacting the Earth. The dust clouds rose high into the sky, blocking out the Sun for a small age.
When the Sun shone across the world again, the Age of Mammals had arrived.
***
Nuala and Wolf arrived at Hogwarts grounds still cloaked in glamour. They ran straight up to Dumbledore's office and Nuala swept his desk clean of all its papers and artifacts. Something glass shattered on the floor. "We haven't much time, we've shaken the bottles too much to wait!"
Draco and Ginny, both excellent potions students, assisted Nuala in the intricate brewing methods. In tandem, they chopped, mixed and boiled. Dumbledore had been nonplused at having been peremptorily shoved aside by a slip of a fairy, but watched in fascination as a potion that had not been made in millions of years began to take shape on his desk. When Snape arrived with Ron, Hermione and Harry two hours later at Dumbledore's request, the simmering had already begun. Snape grunted his approval of Nuala's choice in assistants, but the fairy ignored him and kept slicing the herbs she had bought in the New York shop with Remus. Once the contents of the bottles were shaken, mixing their contents, the entire potion had to be brewed within six hours. They had lost a half hour running back to the castle from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, but Wolf had an unerring sense of direction. That, and he could smell the food cooking in the kitchens.
And finally, the last of the ingredients had been dropped into the cauldron beside Dumbledore's desk. Nuala finally allowed herself some rest, and sank into an overstuffed armchair near the bookshelves. Remus walked up behind her and began massaging her shoulders. "Now what do we do?"
"Another two hours of simmering, and it should be ready. Harry, I have to teach you the proper incantations. It's in the Old Tongue, in a variant of High Elven. You have to say it perfectly, or the spell can backfire."
Everyone watched in fascination as Nuala began to speak in the Old Tongue, a fluid language that evoked colors and shapes along with speech. Harry blundered his way through it, having always been a poor language student. But Nuala merely repeated the spell again, and Harry repeated it as well as he could. They did this repetitively for two hours, until the potion was completed. Nuala poured the condensed liquid into a glass jar and put in a single drop of lemon juice. Then she quickly capped it.
"The High Vesting Ceremony is tomorrow, Harry. Do you think you can do it?"
Harry nodded, taking the jar. He looked over at his two best friends. "I'll be all right, just wait and see. I'll see you when everything is over."
In tears, Hermione ran up and gave Harry a hug. She was too distraught to say anything, and let Ron gently pull her aside. "You take care, mate. You still have to take the NEWTS, you know." He smiled at Harry and clapped him on the arm bravely. "Just come back."
Draco nodded at him brusquely, and had to look away when Ginny gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're stronger than you think," she said softly. "You've always been, but now you have to believe it, too."
Harry smiled at her. "Don't worry, Ginny. I'll be fine. Really."
But deep down, he really didn't think so.
***
Virginia hadn't been able to keep track of where the strange woman was going. They appeared outside the castle after exiting through a secret passageway, the twists and turns confusing Virginia. She had been too frightened to ask where they were going, and the strange woman had been ranting about the purity of blood and that Muggle lovers such as her family had to be struck down for the good of the community. After at least a half hour of being dragged down the tunnels beneath the castle, they finally emerged into fading sunlight. It sounded as though they had somehow walked far enough to be near a village. The woman had used her wand to point to the ground, making them disappear with a cracking sound.
They reappeared in the very center of Stonehenge. There were probably a hundred hooded and masked figures. The only thing keeping Virginia from shuddering in fear was the fact that she was still stunned. He managed to gasp, and the strange woman laughed. She bent low to Virginia's ear. "Don't worry, Ginny-girl. The Ceremony is two days hence. But you'll be too starved and weak to stop it."
There was no way to stop the robed figures from grabbing her from the strange woman, no way to stop them from looking at her frozen face.
"Bella, you fool!" one of them said. "This isn't the right girl!"
"Her name is Ginny," Bella hissed, her lined face becoming downright hideous with her anger. "I heard them say it with my own ears."
"Perhaps," the voice said silkily. "But this isn't the girl I gave the diary to. This isn't our Lord Voldemort's consort."
"Well, she'll just have to do," Bella hissed. "It was a different incarnation, this one will never know."
"He will if I tell him," the voice said.
And then suddenly Bella's wand was pointed at the robed and masked man. "Eviscero!"
Virginia watched helplessly as the stranger's robes parted down the middle. His intestines and internal organs all tumbled out, blood pouring from the edges of the wound. Groaning in pain, the stranger dropped his wand and vainly tried to pull his organs back. They tumbled from his fingers, which were going slack with shock.
"I never did like you, Lucius. You took my sister away from me and never let me see her, as if she was too good for me. But I saw my little baby sister, did she tell you? Before they threw you into Azkaban, she let me into the bosom of her home, gave me the generosity of Malfoy Manor to the fullest."
Virginia was startled. Malfoy? That was the name of the Prefect that had shown her out of the library. He was such a nice boy... and this strange man bleeding to death was his father? The psychotic Bella was apparently his aunt. No wonder he had been so quiet. With a family like that, she wouldn't have been very talkative, either.
"Anyone else think I've got the wrong girl?" Bella snarled, kicking her brother-in-law's body. "Someone get rid of this mess."
Out of the corner of her eye, Virginia could see that several people hurried to do her bidding. She was roughly placed onto a large stone altar and tied down. "Don't worry, little girl," Bella crooned, stroking Virginia's face. "Soon enough it'll be all over for you, and our Lord Voldemort will have even more power to draw from. He will be able to obliterate their pitiful defenses with a flick of his hand." Bella caressed Virginia's face and licked her cheek. "The end is near, and we shall be victorious."
"Bellatrix," someone called. "Rodolphus calls for you."
"Bugger that fool," she hissed beneath her breath. She left Virginia's side and stalked off past the periphery of her vision. "No one touches the girl! She is to be saved for Lord Voldemort and the High Vesting Ceremony!"
Virginia wanted to sigh. She'd been in worse situations, surely. At least she wouldn't have to worry about untoward advances while she was spelled as stiff as a statue.
Hurry, Wolf, she thought silently. Please come for us, I'm scared.
***
When Nuala declared his pronunciation good enough, Harry transfigured the jar into a ring on his hand. He looked up at Nuala, who nodded in approval. "Even if they don't know what's happening, they'd still try to take it away from you."
"Will it work?"
"I hope so, for everyone's sakes." Nuala looked far away. "Now would be a good time for a True Prophecy."
Silence.
"Ah, well, it was too good to be true," she said with a sigh.
Harry cleared his throat, forcing Nuala to look at him. They were currently the only two people on the Quidditch pitch, and he was about to walk to Hogsmeade to deliberately be captured by Death Eaters. "Look, Nuala... Remus looks at you a lot. I think he likes you."
Nuala smiled. "He's a wonderful man. Just my type, too."
Some of the strain in Harry's expression eased. "Um... Take care of him, will you? I mean, even if everything goes well, and I get to do something with the rest of my life, I don't want him feeling alone. You know?"
Nuala gave Harry a quick hug, startling him. "Don't you worry. He's in good hands."
"Okay. Okay, then. I think I'm ready now."
"You'll be fine, Harry. You don't have to feel as if you're doing everything alone."
Harry nodded uncertainly. "I'm no warrior."
"No. But not all the great heroes are. Some of them were just ordinary folks that had to do the right thing."
Harry looked up at the sky and sighed. "Does the sky look the same where you are?"
"Er... I live in a city. It's hard to see the stars at night since there's lights all over," Nuala said, taking a good look at the darkening night sky. Some stars twinkled merrily; some gave off a steady glow. "Plus, I own a bar, so I work all night. You know, I think I've gotten used to not being able to see them anymore."
"I've never seen the world, you know. Here I go, off to save it, and I've never even seen everything in it."
"Do you have to in order to know it's worth saving?"
Harry looked down at Nuala and shook his head. "You're right. You're absolutely right."
Nuala grinned. "It'll all be waiting here for when you get back."
"Thanks, Nuala."
"You'll be okay, Harry. Just take a deep breath, and then get your feet moving. The less you think about it, the less you scare yourself."
"And does it work?"
"I live in New York City and I own a bar. Of course it works."
Harry answered Nuala's smile and then turned toward Hogsmeade. "All right, then. Wish me luck."
"You don't need it. But good luck anyway."
And then Harry broke out into a run, headed down the path to Hogsmeade. He was headed to a trap he knew existed so that he could save another Ginny.
***
Virginia must have dozed. She heard cheers and laughter, which woke her. She still couldn't turn her head, but she knew what the cheering must mean.
Voldemort had arrived.
***
***
Part the Third
True Prophecy
The first thing Nuala did in Scotland was to hug her friends tightly and express thanks that they were fine. The second thing she did was give her first True Speech.
Her eyes had glazed over and she had shifted to look at the old bearded man. The voice that came out of her mouth was not her own. She had heard the Clurachan tell her of such things when they happened to him, but she had never been the one in the family who Spoke True.
The dead shall rise and walk the lands,
Born of death and blood of child's hands,
Carrying destruction in skulls of green,
Pestilence and death in shadows unseen.
The child shall waken, lightning to tree,
To break the hold of terror over bent knee.
Out of darkness comes yellow lampen eyes
To see the dark and narrow path to prize.
His mate will walk amongst kingdoms old
Their companion thousands ages old.
Their magic new and old and wild,
The knowledge born to save the child.
Then Nuala came back to herself and sighed. "Oh bugger, not me, too."
"Nuala?" Virginia asked, concerned.
The old man grinned. "How very lovely. I was hoping you would be the one Cymbeline Trelawney was speaking about."
"Wizard, now is not the time for this," Nuala said. She was trying to be polite, but there were more questions than answers in her mind. First and foremost, she wanted to ask the Clurachan if headaches were normal. Then she remembered that he was off gallivanting around the world as the boon companion to Prince Wendell. And probably shagging the boy rotten. And that he was probably the blonde drunk Adonis her wolf had remembered. And that she was now caught up in a war not her own. "I need to sit down."
Remus was at her side in an instant. "Albus, she probably needs to rest. I don't think she's ever Apparated before."
Dumbledore waved his concerns aside. "Young Nuala here has crossed dimensional lines. I should think a little transportation shouldn't be so harsh."
Nuala looked at Dumbledore and felt more than a little afraid. "Who are you?"
"I'd like to help you," Dumbledore said. "But in doing so, you would all be helping us as well. You see, there's more to that prophecy, but not much. You missed the part about how to save the child."
Nuala straightened in the chair angrily. "But there is no more! The Speech will rise when it's ready and no more! And if there's no more to the Speech, it will not be said!"
Dumbledore's head bowed. "I'm sorry. I was hoping Cymbeline was right. But I see now that she was wrong, there is no more to it."
"You think this is us," Virginia said suddenly. "You think we're the ones to save your precious Boy Who Lived." All eyes were on her now. "What possessed you to do such a thing to him anyway? He's just a boy! You can't expect him to take on an entire army!"
Dumbledore sat down heavily in his chair. "And yet, this is precisely what we must do. I'm afraid that the hour grows near where this school is no longer a haven." He steepled his fingers together and looked at the four adults assembled in front of him. "Our magicks have failed us, our defense is failing. They outnumber us and kill innocents out of spite. If I believe that you hold the key to success, I must ask for help."
"What the hell do you think we can do that you can't?" Wolf asked. "We don't know magic! How are we supposed to stop that?!"
Dumbledore looked at Nuala. "My dear... isn't there a spell?"
Nuala covered her face with her hands. "I won't do it, I won't."
Virginia turned to Nuala. "What is it? What?"
"There's an old spell. It's one of the strongest protection magicks known to the Fae, but it's also one of the most dangerous. It's been told that it was cast wrongly, and that's what led to the Sundering, the separation of Faerie from this land."
"But if it works?"
"Then any evil touching it would dissolve into nothingness."
Wolf sighed. "All or nothing, eh? Sounds familiar."
"You will need help. But while the Aurors fight, we have capable students that may help you in your task," Dumbledore said. "I believe you'd find much help here, if you know what hidden corners to look in." At this, he smiled at Virginia and stood. "But I do believe that you should all rest. It's been a very trying day."
The four were shuffled politely but efficiently out of Dumbledore's office. "I never know how he does that," Remus said ruefully. "Well, I suppose I should let you all talk. You probably have a lot to catch up on."
Nuala touched Remus's arm, stopping him. Virginia and Wolf shared a glance. "Why don't you show us a good place to talk?"
"Or how about, you two talk? We're good. See you." Wolf grabbed Virginia and raced down the hall toward the library.
Nuala and Remus looked at each other and then laughed. "I see where they're going with this," Nuala said wryly.
"Offended?"
"Not in the least."
"I'm a werewolf, you know."
"Of course. I'm a fairy, you know."
Remus shrugged. "Doesn't bother me."
"Good. Now why don't you show me around and introduce me?"
***
Wolf and Virginia stopped running when they were some distance from library. "The look on her face!" Virginia cried. "Do you think she'll be mad at us?"
"Nah. She likes the scent of him, I can tell."
"You sure?"
"Nothing a good girl likes better than a bad ol' wolf boy to stir things up." Wolf gathered Virginia up in his arms. "Am I wrong?"
"No." Virginia kissed him. "But I do think we need to get back to our rooms. What if they saw us like this?"
"Oh, let 'em watch! It's legal!" Wolf spun Virginia around in a circle, hearing her shriek with laughter. "I love you, Ginny. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, whatever it was."
Someone clapped behind them. Both Virginia and Wolf turned to look. "Aw... isn't that sweet? Little Ginny all grown up. You've changed, but I think Our Lord will still be pleased to see you again."
"What the-"
The woman stunned them both, then shook out her long black hair. Lines were etched into her face. She had once been beautiful, but some kind of trauma had aged her horribly. She bent down and pulled Virginia away from Wolf. "Don't worry, little boy. We'll take good care of her. Until Lord Voldemort is ready for her. I can't promise anything then, and I usually break all of my toys."
Her laughter was horrible to hear, and Wolf couldn't move anything but his eyes. She laughed all the harder at his terror. "Tell that old fool we've got the girl. He knows about the High Vesting Ceremony. Tell him we'll be ready for him."
The woman with black hair pulled a silvery cloak over herself and Virginia's frozen form, disappearing from view. He was paralyzed, but desperately wanted to howl with rage and fear. If anything happened to Virginia or their child...
He didn't know how long he remained frozen there. He heard the voices first. "Oh Merlin, Draco, look!" a girl's voice cried.
"Finite incantem," the boy named Draco cried, casting the spell on Wolf.
Wolf howled, the pent up frustration finally released. "I'll kill the bitch!" he raged. "How dare she take her?!"
"What? Who?" the girl asked, confused. She looked to be about seventeen, with bright red hair, brown eyes and freckles across the bridge of her nose.
"That bitch! She took Ginny!"
"But I'm right here," the redheaded girl said, confused.
Draco's eyes widened. "Virginia. They took Virginia. They must have heard you call her Ginny," Draco said. He turned to Ginny. "I told you something was happening, I told you! You should've gone into hiding!"
Wolf watched as the girl touched Draco's sleeve gently. "Who took her? Who took your Virginia?" she asked.
"I don't know, she didn't exactly introduce herself," Wolf spat bitterly. "She had black hair and she was insane! She said something about a Vesting Ceremony, and she disappeared with my wife!"
They were attracting quite a large crowd now, but Draco didn't notice. "Did she have a scar in front of her left ear?"
"Yes, thin and jagged. I saw it as we fell."
"Bellatrix," Draco muttered. "The Death Eaters got her."
Wolf howled at the ceiling again, hands fisted at his sides. "I'll rip her heart out with my bare hands! How dare they touch what's mine!"
Draco nodded, approving of the words. "Look. We'll have to get you out of this hallway, too many ears..." Draco and Ginny could see Ron, Hermione and Harry wading through the bewildered students. "Too late," he muttered.
"What's going on here? Where's Virginia?" Harry asked. "I thought we were going to meet in one of the ballrooms?"
"They took her!" Wolf raged, pointing at Draco. "He knows who did it!"
Instantly, wands were out. With a soft cry, Ginny rushed in front of him. "Gin, get out of the way," Ron said, teeth grit. "He'll need to be taken into custody."
"You don't understand, he wasn't involved!"
"Wolf just said..."
"He knew her, I didn't say he did it! You people deaf?" Wolf bellowed. "Now how are we going to get my wife back?"
Now teachers were approaching the library. "Good heavens!" McGonagall cried, seeing the mob. "Everyone! Back to your common rooms at once!"
Hearing her commanding tones, the Prefects in the crowd begin shooing students away from the library. Ron and Hermione kept their wands out, trained on Draco. Harry looked over at McGonagall uncertainly. "Professor, they've taken Virginia."
McGonagall sucked in a deep breath. "To Dumbledore's office, all of you! I'll get Remus and Nuala. Hurry!"
***
Nuala later remembered that meeting with a touch of bitterness. So much for True Speech. Why hadn't she been able to see her friend getting kidnapped by a ruthless killer? That was so much more useful than repeating a prophecy already told.
There wasn't a question now about brewing the potion for the protection spell. If she made it large enough, it could cover all of the British Isles. Then they could be rid forever of the taint hovering over it.
"Are you sure?" Remus asked gently, giving her the bag of items she had bought in his friend's shop. "You said it's dangerous."
"Wouldn't you do anything in your power to save your friends?"
Remus thought of Sirius, of Lily and James, and finally of Harry. "Yes."
"Then I'm doing this. I don't know what a High Vesting Ceremony is, but I don't think Virginia wants to find out."
While Ron, Hermione and Harry didn't trust Draco within an inch of his life, they trusted Ginny's judgment. If she said that he had been tutoring her in Potions, they trusted her. He didn't bother to even look at the Trio, but pored through the books Snape had brought to Dumbledore's office. He had quickly gotten over the shock of finding out that Snape was a spy for the Order of the Phoenix and had simply asked to help. He remembered Virginia's smile in the library, her easy acceptance of his presence and the book she had been reading. She was Muggle, but she wasn't all that bad. She just didn't know the first thing about Malfoys. And she certainly didn't deserve to die in a Death Eater ceremony.
"There's one problem with this. Well, two," Nuala admitted.
"What?" Wolf asked, looking up.
"One part of the potion has been extinct for centuries. And it takes two years for the base of the potion to brew properly."
Nuala winced, expecting Wolf to be furious. He looked stunned instead. "But..."
"There's a way... I could always try to return to the Dreaming and ask Lord Shaper to give me the potion. If someone dreamed of it, he could find it and give me some."
"Isn't that risky?" Draco asked. "I remember reading about that somewhere..."
"In History of Magic," Hermione supplied. "Ethelred the Sleeper. He tried to strike a deal with the Lord of Dreams, but failed. He never woke up, and his tribe lost the battle."
Nuala sighed. "It's different. I lived there once. And the Lord Shaper is different now. He might be able to help me."
Remus gave her hand a squeeze. "What do we do?"
***
The Dreaming was different from what Nuala remembered. She wandered around the fields, waving at her old friends. She approached the gates and smiled at the unicorn and griffin guarding the door. "Hello. I'd like to see the Lord Shaper, please."
"Who asks the way?" the unicorn asked, dropping his head down low to see her better.
"Nuala of the Bright Folk. I used to live here."
"Why, so you did. When our Lord wore another face. Enter freely, Nuala of the Bright Folk. And welcome back."
"Thank you." She stroked their heads briefly, then walked into the palace.
It was as if no time had passed at all. Seven years were a magic number, and she had changed mightily in the seven years since she had been released of her service in the Dreaming and decided to leave Faerie for Earth. She was sorry to know that the former Dream was dead, that the Furies had to kill him. She hoped it was painless.
Nuala took the straight path to the Heart of the Dreaming. She remembered cleaning those steps, the stained glass windows. She remembered dancing on the dais while singing, she remembered chatting with Lucius in the Great Library. So many memories...
Dream was there in the throne room, the Heart of the Dreaming. He was sitting on the chair she used to polish meticulously until it shone. He was dressed in white, wearing an emerald on his chest. He seemed to have a faint smile on his face.
"Hello, Dream," Nuala said, bowing. She was dressed in her best Faerie finery in her dream, though she still looked like herself. She had stopped dreaming of glamour years ago, and didn't miss it.
It's Daniel, now, actually.
"Hello, Daniel," Nuala said, her mouth quirked in a smile. "I'm Nuala. I was here when the other Dream was here."
Yes, I remember you from my other self. I've followed your dreams, Nuala. I'm glad to see you're happy.
Nuala smiled. "Thank you, Daniel. That means a lot to me."
I'm not the same, Nuala, Daniel said gently, rising. He got up from his throne and walked down the steps deliberately. I'm not the one you loved.
"I know. That's not why I'm here. I've come to ask a favor."
You've already used your boon, Daniel said, indicating the pendant around her neck.
Nuala flushed. "No, not that. I mean, a real favor. One I'll repay if I can. I need a potion, part of the great Ashdod protection spell."
I know the potion of which you speak. It has not been made since the Sundering, and there are none who would attempt to make it now.
"My friend was kidnapped. I need to get her back."
Daniel nodded, and closed the distance between them. I understand. But those who made the potion have not dreamed of it since long before you were born. I have none to give you, Nuala.
Nuala felt the tears well up in her eyes. "Poor Virginia... I've failed her."
Daniel touched her face gently. Don't cry, Nuala. You haven't failed. Give this necklace back to me. You have no need of it. I'll give you another in its place, and then you will know what to do.
Daniel's hand moved down to the pendant around Nuala's neck. She had worn it every day since Dream had given it to her. He touched the stone and it changed into a tiny hourglass held within several rings.
Good luck, Nuala. You've served me well, and for this I would thank you. Give your love to another that can return it.
On impulse, Nuala grasped Daniel's hand. He was so different from her version of Dream, it was almost as if her Dream was dead. "Did it hurt? I've always hoped that the Kindly Ones didn't hurt you. I never wanted you to be hurt."
No, it didn't hurt, Daniel said with a smile. I took my sister Death's hand, and then this self was reshaped from the child born in this realm. It wasn't painful at all.
"Thank you," Nuala whispered. She leaned up and kissed Daniel's cheek. "I hope you're happier in this form."
Me too, Daniel said wistfully. Now go back to your realm and save your friend. You have the tools to succeed, little one.
And then Nuala woke, wearing a Time Turner around her neck.
***
Over everyone's protests, it was decided. Nuala would go back in time, to before the Sundering, and steal enough of the potion to stop the Death Eaters. Wolf would go with her as protection. When she returned, Harry would walk into the High Vesting Ceremony holding the potion in his hands. He would perform the incantation and then drink the potion.
"And then?" Ron prompted.
"And then we hope it works," Nuala whispered. She threw the chain around herself and Wolf, keeping an eye on Remus. "I'll be back."
"I'll be waiting," he promised. "We haven't finished our conversation yet."
"I'll hold you to it," Nuala said with a grin, beginning to turn the rings.
And then they were gone.
***
Wolf didn't land gracefully. He fell, skidding along the ground, grass and dirt going up his nose. Nuala fell onto her bottom with a thud. Wolf spit out the dirt and wiped his mouth. "So where are we? When are we?"
"We're in the same place Hogwarts will be, only so far in the past that its founders won't be born for several millennia."
Wolf's eyes boggled. "Wow. That's a long time."
"Yes, it is."
"You know the way?"
"Can't you feel the magic?"
"But it's everywhere! I don't know where to look first!"
Nuala heard shouting in the distance and tucked the Time Turner under her blouse. She quickly cast a glamour over them both. She now looked tall, lithe and blonde, wearing Grecian robes. It had been her usual countenance at Faerie Court. Wolf now looked like a brown-haired version of her brother, the Clurachan. "Quickly, follow me. Don't talk to anyone or do anything. We can't impact history!"
"All right, all right. You do the talking, I do the fighting. Deal?"
"Deal."
They walked in silence, tense and alert. Nuala was trying to remember the stories she had heard as a child, long before she had realized that such stories were real. There had been an attack upon the Fae by the Horde. As a last resort, Nuala the Fair had begun to brew the potentially deadly potion. Nuala had always loved the stories, since her name had been in them, though she was anything but fair. Nuala's brewing had been interrupted, possibly by agents of the Horde, and then came the Sundering. It was a massive explosion generated by the force of such a powerful protection spell. Nuala the Fair had likely perished in the attempt to rescue her people and keep them safe.
"Oy there! Fae or foe?"
Nuala turned toward the voice. It was a fairy, far off in the distance, waving at her. "Fae!" she returned easily enough in the Old Tongue. She nodded at Wolf and they headed in the direction of the fairy guard.
"Your companion," the guard asked suspiciously as they approached, "has he no speech?"
"We were attacked by the Horde," Nuala lied. "I know not where, he barely managed to spell us to safety. But the effort has left him deaf."
The guard nodded sagely. "We must get you to Nuala the Fair. She is a skilled healer, and may restore his hearing. It will give her respite from her arduous task."
"My thanks, good sir. It's been a long walk."
"Of course. Continue toward the Evenstar, and you'll see the Fair City."
Nuala and Wolf continued north. "I had to say that you're deaf," Nuala explained. "Just play along."
"What's going on?"
"We're back in the past, just before the Sundering. According to the stories, a Horde spy must have interrupted the efforts of the Ashdod potion, which triggered its premature use. The explosion was so great, it caused the Sundering."
"Then we better hurry, because I smell something like rotten meat nearby."
Nuala gasped. "The Horde. We have to hurry!"
They ran as fast as they could toward the Fair City. As far as Wolf could tell, the source of the rotten meat smell was a stealthy band of three or four stinking members. He and Nuala were ahead of them, but the Horde agents were merely walking. They were taking their time, easing through the underbrush and keeping out of sight. He supposed that they were going to approach the city and storm its gates at nightfall.
"Horde!" Nuala screamed as they passed through the gates. "Horde agents!"
She pulled Wolf along with her. Panic had broken out in the streets, and they had only her memory of tales to direct them to Nuala the Fair. But she remembered the tales well, since they included her namesake. She found the Healer's tent and ducked inside. Nuala the Fair wasn't there, so Nuala scanned the shelves for the extra bottles or jars containing completed parts of the Ashdod potion. She gave Wolf five small bottles that wouldn't be missed and held one of her own. She threw the thin gold chain about Wolf's neck and began to turn the rings of the Time Turner. She heard the dim shouts of panic behind them as someone entered the tent, but they had already vanished.
The unfortunate fairy backed away in surprise, upsetting a corner of the tent. The shelves rattled, and several bottles were knocked off the edge and shattered onto the floor. Black smoke rose lazily from the spilled liquid, and the fairy turned around to face the Orc that had snuck into the city as part of the Horde's advance guard. The fairy screamed as the curved blade sank into his neck, spilling his blood. It spread across the floor, reaching the spilled liquids. The black smoke roiled angrily, and hurtled itself at the startled Orc.
The explosion was massive, and rocked the world. The Sundering was actually so strong that it had the same force of a meteor impacting the Earth. The dust clouds rose high into the sky, blocking out the Sun for a small age.
When the Sun shone across the world again, the Age of Mammals had arrived.
***
Nuala and Wolf arrived at Hogwarts grounds still cloaked in glamour. They ran straight up to Dumbledore's office and Nuala swept his desk clean of all its papers and artifacts. Something glass shattered on the floor. "We haven't much time, we've shaken the bottles too much to wait!"
Draco and Ginny, both excellent potions students, assisted Nuala in the intricate brewing methods. In tandem, they chopped, mixed and boiled. Dumbledore had been nonplused at having been peremptorily shoved aside by a slip of a fairy, but watched in fascination as a potion that had not been made in millions of years began to take shape on his desk. When Snape arrived with Ron, Hermione and Harry two hours later at Dumbledore's request, the simmering had already begun. Snape grunted his approval of Nuala's choice in assistants, but the fairy ignored him and kept slicing the herbs she had bought in the New York shop with Remus. Once the contents of the bottles were shaken, mixing their contents, the entire potion had to be brewed within six hours. They had lost a half hour running back to the castle from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, but Wolf had an unerring sense of direction. That, and he could smell the food cooking in the kitchens.
And finally, the last of the ingredients had been dropped into the cauldron beside Dumbledore's desk. Nuala finally allowed herself some rest, and sank into an overstuffed armchair near the bookshelves. Remus walked up behind her and began massaging her shoulders. "Now what do we do?"
"Another two hours of simmering, and it should be ready. Harry, I have to teach you the proper incantations. It's in the Old Tongue, in a variant of High Elven. You have to say it perfectly, or the spell can backfire."
Everyone watched in fascination as Nuala began to speak in the Old Tongue, a fluid language that evoked colors and shapes along with speech. Harry blundered his way through it, having always been a poor language student. But Nuala merely repeated the spell again, and Harry repeated it as well as he could. They did this repetitively for two hours, until the potion was completed. Nuala poured the condensed liquid into a glass jar and put in a single drop of lemon juice. Then she quickly capped it.
"The High Vesting Ceremony is tomorrow, Harry. Do you think you can do it?"
Harry nodded, taking the jar. He looked over at his two best friends. "I'll be all right, just wait and see. I'll see you when everything is over."
In tears, Hermione ran up and gave Harry a hug. She was too distraught to say anything, and let Ron gently pull her aside. "You take care, mate. You still have to take the NEWTS, you know." He smiled at Harry and clapped him on the arm bravely. "Just come back."
Draco nodded at him brusquely, and had to look away when Ginny gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You're stronger than you think," she said softly. "You've always been, but now you have to believe it, too."
Harry smiled at her. "Don't worry, Ginny. I'll be fine. Really."
But deep down, he really didn't think so.
***
Virginia hadn't been able to keep track of where the strange woman was going. They appeared outside the castle after exiting through a secret passageway, the twists and turns confusing Virginia. She had been too frightened to ask where they were going, and the strange woman had been ranting about the purity of blood and that Muggle lovers such as her family had to be struck down for the good of the community. After at least a half hour of being dragged down the tunnels beneath the castle, they finally emerged into fading sunlight. It sounded as though they had somehow walked far enough to be near a village. The woman had used her wand to point to the ground, making them disappear with a cracking sound.
They reappeared in the very center of Stonehenge. There were probably a hundred hooded and masked figures. The only thing keeping Virginia from shuddering in fear was the fact that she was still stunned. He managed to gasp, and the strange woman laughed. She bent low to Virginia's ear. "Don't worry, Ginny-girl. The Ceremony is two days hence. But you'll be too starved and weak to stop it."
There was no way to stop the robed figures from grabbing her from the strange woman, no way to stop them from looking at her frozen face.
"Bella, you fool!" one of them said. "This isn't the right girl!"
"Her name is Ginny," Bella hissed, her lined face becoming downright hideous with her anger. "I heard them say it with my own ears."
"Perhaps," the voice said silkily. "But this isn't the girl I gave the diary to. This isn't our Lord Voldemort's consort."
"Well, she'll just have to do," Bella hissed. "It was a different incarnation, this one will never know."
"He will if I tell him," the voice said.
And then suddenly Bella's wand was pointed at the robed and masked man. "Eviscero!"
Virginia watched helplessly as the stranger's robes parted down the middle. His intestines and internal organs all tumbled out, blood pouring from the edges of the wound. Groaning in pain, the stranger dropped his wand and vainly tried to pull his organs back. They tumbled from his fingers, which were going slack with shock.
"I never did like you, Lucius. You took my sister away from me and never let me see her, as if she was too good for me. But I saw my little baby sister, did she tell you? Before they threw you into Azkaban, she let me into the bosom of her home, gave me the generosity of Malfoy Manor to the fullest."
Virginia was startled. Malfoy? That was the name of the Prefect that had shown her out of the library. He was such a nice boy... and this strange man bleeding to death was his father? The psychotic Bella was apparently his aunt. No wonder he had been so quiet. With a family like that, she wouldn't have been very talkative, either.
"Anyone else think I've got the wrong girl?" Bella snarled, kicking her brother-in-law's body. "Someone get rid of this mess."
Out of the corner of her eye, Virginia could see that several people hurried to do her bidding. She was roughly placed onto a large stone altar and tied down. "Don't worry, little girl," Bella crooned, stroking Virginia's face. "Soon enough it'll be all over for you, and our Lord Voldemort will have even more power to draw from. He will be able to obliterate their pitiful defenses with a flick of his hand." Bella caressed Virginia's face and licked her cheek. "The end is near, and we shall be victorious."
"Bellatrix," someone called. "Rodolphus calls for you."
"Bugger that fool," she hissed beneath her breath. She left Virginia's side and stalked off past the periphery of her vision. "No one touches the girl! She is to be saved for Lord Voldemort and the High Vesting Ceremony!"
Virginia wanted to sigh. She'd been in worse situations, surely. At least she wouldn't have to worry about untoward advances while she was spelled as stiff as a statue.
Hurry, Wolf, she thought silently. Please come for us, I'm scared.
***
When Nuala declared his pronunciation good enough, Harry transfigured the jar into a ring on his hand. He looked up at Nuala, who nodded in approval. "Even if they don't know what's happening, they'd still try to take it away from you."
"Will it work?"
"I hope so, for everyone's sakes." Nuala looked far away. "Now would be a good time for a True Prophecy."
Silence.
"Ah, well, it was too good to be true," she said with a sigh.
Harry cleared his throat, forcing Nuala to look at him. They were currently the only two people on the Quidditch pitch, and he was about to walk to Hogsmeade to deliberately be captured by Death Eaters. "Look, Nuala... Remus looks at you a lot. I think he likes you."
Nuala smiled. "He's a wonderful man. Just my type, too."
Some of the strain in Harry's expression eased. "Um... Take care of him, will you? I mean, even if everything goes well, and I get to do something with the rest of my life, I don't want him feeling alone. You know?"
Nuala gave Harry a quick hug, startling him. "Don't you worry. He's in good hands."
"Okay. Okay, then. I think I'm ready now."
"You'll be fine, Harry. You don't have to feel as if you're doing everything alone."
Harry nodded uncertainly. "I'm no warrior."
"No. But not all the great heroes are. Some of them were just ordinary folks that had to do the right thing."
Harry looked up at the sky and sighed. "Does the sky look the same where you are?"
"Er... I live in a city. It's hard to see the stars at night since there's lights all over," Nuala said, taking a good look at the darkening night sky. Some stars twinkled merrily; some gave off a steady glow. "Plus, I own a bar, so I work all night. You know, I think I've gotten used to not being able to see them anymore."
"I've never seen the world, you know. Here I go, off to save it, and I've never even seen everything in it."
"Do you have to in order to know it's worth saving?"
Harry looked down at Nuala and shook his head. "You're right. You're absolutely right."
Nuala grinned. "It'll all be waiting here for when you get back."
"Thanks, Nuala."
"You'll be okay, Harry. Just take a deep breath, and then get your feet moving. The less you think about it, the less you scare yourself."
"And does it work?"
"I live in New York City and I own a bar. Of course it works."
Harry answered Nuala's smile and then turned toward Hogsmeade. "All right, then. Wish me luck."
"You don't need it. But good luck anyway."
And then Harry broke out into a run, headed down the path to Hogsmeade. He was headed to a trap he knew existed so that he could save another Ginny.
***
Virginia must have dozed. She heard cheers and laughter, which woke her. She still couldn't turn her head, but she knew what the cheering must mean.
Voldemort had arrived.
***
***