Harry Potter and Destiny's Arrow

Katie put on her shorts and her long-sleeved Holyhead Harpies shirt. She pulled her hair back and set out for the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. Opening the door, she shrieked.

"W-what was that for?" Jake asked, clearly startled by the screaming.

"I...I didn't expect you to be lurking outside my door," she replied.

"I wasn't lurking. I was coming up to say good night and to..."

"Some of us are trying to sleep," Paul said as he poked his head out of his room. "Oh, hello, Jake," he continued with a grin.

"Hey, Paul," Jake said, throwing a wave in his direction. "See you in the morning," he said pointedly.

"Right, the morning," Paul said with a smirk. "G'night, Katie." He closed his door.

Katie settled against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm surprised that you were able to drag yourself away from my dad."

"That's what I wanted to come up here for. I'm sorry that I got so involved in the whole guitar thing. It's just..." He paused. "It was nice to have...a dad...sort of...to show me how to do something, you know?"

Katie uncrossed her arms. How am I supposed to stay angry at him when he looks so abashed? "It's OK."

"I promise..." He stopped when he saw her roll her eyes. "I promise that I'll spend more time with you tomorrow. Before I go."

She smiled at him. "All right then. I guess I'll see you in the morning." She brushed past him to head toward the bathroom.

"Um, Katie?"

As soon as she turned back to face Jake, her mouth was covered by his. He backed her up until she was pressed against the wall and he was pressed against her. His tongue probed into her mouth. When he withdrew it, she chased it into his mouth with her own. Several minutes later, they broke for air. Breathing heavily, Jake leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I love the black panties by the way." Without another word, he pecked her on the cheek and disappeared down the hall toward the staircase.

*************************************

At 6 p.m. promptly, there was a knock on the door. Mrs. Bell opened it to Tonks, who was a redhead today (Katie thought she looked remarkably like a Weasley).

"Come in, please," Mrs. Bell invited.

Tonks stepped in and glanced at Jake. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I just need to get my bag from upstairs," he said, trying not to glance at Katie.

"Bag, eh?" Tonks asked. "Well, you'd better go get it then."

"Right. Be right down," he said as he dashed up the stairs.

"I'm, um, going to, ah, make sure he gets, uh, the right bag," Katie said, following closely behind him. Once they entered her room, Katie shut the door behind her. "I guess that this is good-bye until after the New Year," she said hesitantly.

"I guess..."

"I reckon they'll be a party for New Year's then?"

"Hannah said there might be something," he replied, moving closer to her.

"H-hannah?"

Jake smiled. "Katie, you know that the only girl I wanna be kissing at midnight's you." He paused. "And besides that, I think that Ernie and Hannah have something going on."

"Really?"

He nodded and stepped even closer. "Since I won't see you at New Year's, I guess I'll have to kiss you right now."

"I reckon you..." Her sentence was cut off by Jake's lips on her own.

"Oi! Jake, did you find that bag?" Tonks called out from downstairs.

Jake broke away and blushed furiously. "Yeah, I found it," he said in a higher voice than he'd have liked. "I'll be right down."

Katie kissed him deeply one more time. Jake picked up his bag, took Katie's hand in his own, and together they headed downstairs.

*********************************************

Jake was sitting in the common room waiting for his housemates to return. The portrait hole opened and students came spilling in, shucking off their coats as they entered. He caught sight of Harry, Ginny, and Ron and waved. They glanced at him and then at each other and finally made their way over.

"Happy New Year's, guys," he greeted them.

"Happy New Year," Ginny said with an odd smile. "How was it here?"

Jake shrugged. "Little lonely. I'm glad everyone's back. How was your break?"

"Fine," Harry said. "Never better," Ron said. "It was OK," Ginny said.

"Well, come on and sit down," Jake said, motioning to the couch across from him.

"Um, actually, there's something I need to attend to in the dormitory," Ron said.

"Right, I'll help," Harry agreed. The two of them took off like a shot up the stairs.

Jake stared after them and then looked at Ginny who was shifting from one foot to another. "Something I said?" he asked with a smile.

She shook her head. "No...actually, I've got to attend to something as well," she said, turning toward the girl's staircase. With her foot on the first step, she glanced backward. "See you later."

He had no time to ponder what had just happened as Hermione ran into the common room and hugged him tightly. "How was your break?" she asked excitedly.

"It was fine," he answered somewhat distractedly.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Jake shook his head. "N-nothing. Tell me, how was skiing?"

********************************************

The next day, Jake entered the dungeon for Potions. To his surprise, Hermione was sitting next to Harry and Ron was sitting next to Neville. The only seat left was next to Malfoy. Jake sat and waved at his friends. They waved back half-heartedly.

"Have you lost your little friends?" Malfoy sneered.

"Shut up," Jake said.

Before Draco could make another nasty remark, Professor Snape hurried into the room, robes flying behind him. "As I'm sure that none of you did any revising over break, let's take a moment to review. Clear your desks," he added nastily as he passed out a surprise quiz.

During the quiz, Jake's eyes kept darting over to his friends. At least yesterday, Hermione had still been speaking to him. He racked his brains trying to figure out what he could have done to offend all four of them.

"See something interesting, Mr. Willig?" Snape whispered in Jake's ear.

His head snapped up. "No, sir."

"Cheating will not be tolerated," the older man said.

"I wasn't cheating," Jake objected.

Snape's eyes swept over Jake's parchment. Seeing it blank, he smiled spitefully. "No, I'd guess you weren't. Get. Back. To. Work."

Needless to say, Jake received a poor mark on his quiz, he managed to melt Malfoy's cauldron, and he got a detention from Professor Snape. Finally, Potions was over. Jake collected up his books and hurried over to his three friends. "Thank Houdini, that's over," he said with some relief. "So are we off to lunch?"

The three shared a furtive look. Hermione was the first to speak. "I've got to get to the library," she said and left quickly.

Ron watched her go and called out, "I'll walk you there." He practically ran after her.

Jake turned to Harry. "I guess it's just you and me," he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"I...I promised I'd meet Ginny," Harry said, swiftly exiting the dungeon as well.

"Aw, have Potty, the Weasel, and the mudblood all abandoned Yank?" Malfoy said while his two sidekicks sniggered.

"I'll have lunch with you," Neville called out from the corridor. Jake smiled gratefully at him and headed out the door.

************************************************

After dinner, which he'd eaten with Katie and her friends, Jake headed to the library. Katie had pressed him to tell her what was wrong, but he'd shaken his head and insisted that he was fine. He kissed her on the cheek and told her he'd meet her back in the common room later. In the library, Madam Pince shot him a disapproving look as soon as he entered, as if warning him not to get too rambunctious. He smiled charmingly at her and made his way into the stacks. He headed to the Potions section, knowing that he needed to get a good grade on his essay to make up for today's debacle of a pop quiz. As he went up one aisle, he heard voices on the other side.

"We need to tell him," Ginny's voice said. Jake stopped and debated whether he should listen or not. The whole thing with Katie and her friends weighed heavily on his mind.

"How do you suppose we should tell him?" Harry asked.

"It's not something you can just go up and say now, is it?" Ron added sarcastically.

"But he has a right to know," Hermione said.

"Oh right. Hey, Jake, you ought to know that..." A noise made Jake head further down the aisle. If his previous eavesdropping experience had taught him anything, it was not to get caught. He pretended to look at some books down from the voices. When the footsteps faded, he drifted back toward his friends.

"It's bloody unbelievable, that's what it is," Ron said. Damn, I've missed whatever this big secret is...

"We can't keep avoiding him forever," Hermione, the voice of reason, pleaded.

"We certainly can," Ron argued.

"How would you feel if you were Jake?" Hermione demanded of her boyfriend.

"I'd rather not know," he replied simply. He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'Bloody git' to Jake's American ears.

"I agree with Hermione. He should know," Ginny said after a few moments of silence.

"Well, you tell him then," Harry said.

"Maybe we should let Katie know," Ron suggested.

Jake backed up into the shelf behind him, rocking it slightly.

"I think someone's on the other side," Ron whispered. Jake heard a chair scraping and scrambled down the aisle. Running out of the library, he ignored Madam Pince's pointed glare.

**************************************************

"Katie," he called out.

She stopped and turned around. Taking in Jake's disheveled appearance, she motioned for the prefects she was accompanying to go on ahead. "What's the matter?"

He ran up to her and bent over trying to catch his breath. "I..." Breath. "Need..." Breath. "To..." Breath. "Talk..." Breath. "To you," he added in a final burst of speech.

"OK," she replied. She grasped his hand and led him into an alcove. "What is it?"

He stared into her eyes. "Look, whatever you may hear...about me...it isn't true."

"What've you done?" she asked suspiciously.

"I haven't done anything. Just promise me that you won't believe anything you hear about me."

"Jake, you're..."

"Promise me," he shouted.

She gazed calmly at him. He had a rather wild look in his eyes. "I promise," she said softly.

"Good," he said, trying to leave. However, she still had his hand.

"Now will you please tell me what this is about?"

"Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny have been avoiding me since they've been back. I think they're angry at me or something." To her raised eyebrow, he responded, "And no, I don't know why. Anyways, whatever it is, I overheard them in the library and they're planning on telling you."

Her lips pursed at the words 'I overheard them.' She sighed. "Jake, tell me you weren't eavesdropping. Again."

"Katie..."

"You didn't learn your lesson from last time?"

"Last time, it forced you and I to talk," he replied defensively.

"Yes, because you were avoiding me, if I recall correctly," she spat back. She glanced at her watch. "I'm late. I'll talk to you...about this...later." She dropped his hand and he watched her walk away. She didn't even kiss me good-bye...Who needs those four when you can mess up all by yourself?

Jake went back to the library and worked on his essay. Three feet of parchment later, he was fairly confident in his essay on the many uses of the Manderby root in potions. He set down his quill and put his hands behind his head. Glancing at his watch, he realized that Katie should be back from her meeting by now. He rolled up his parchment, collected his things, and set out for the dorm. As he reached the portrait hole, he gave the Fat Lady the password and she swung open. Jake clambered through the entrance and came to a dead stop in the common room. Huddled in a corner, away from everyone else, were his four friends and his girlfriend. They looked up...guiltily... at Jake. He dropped his bag and turned around, heading out of the common room.

********************************************************

"Who needs friends anyway?" Jake grumbled. He picked up another rock and heaved it into the lake. It was a terrific splash and he grunted in satisfaction. "And who needs a girlfriend?" But you love Katie... "And I thought she loved me," he snorted. A rustle from the underbrush made him jump. When he turned, he found Professor Tepes coming out of the forest.

"Bit late to be out, Mr. Willig, no?" she asked. Her teeth retracted and she wiped at a spot of blood on her chin.

"So give me detention," he replied angrily. "Would be a great ending to the day."

"Bad day today?" She paused. "You and your friends had a little spat, no?"

"How did you..."

"Word travels quickly," she said with a shrug.

Jake didn't want to talk about his problems with his undead DADA professor so he changed the subject. "So what do you eat exactly?"

"Small animals like...how do you say...rabbits. Things like that."

Jake shuddered. "Sounds delicious." He paused. "This may be a rude question, but why don't you eat people?"

She laughed softly. "It is an honest question to ask of a vampire, no? To tell it shortly, Mr. Willig, I cannot." She saw the look of surprise come across Jake's face and laughed a little louder. "It sounds strange, no? But a long time--to you--ago, I attacked a family. I killed the father and the babies. The mother put a curse on me."

"A c-curse?"

Tepes nodded. "She cursed that I would walk the earth and feel bad about what I was...what I did. Since then..." her voice trailed off.

"No people," Jake finished for her.

"No people, yes," she confirmed. "I am somewhat of a...castout...with my own kind."

"You mean outcast," he corrected.

"Outcast, yes."

"So Dumbledore hired you."

"Yes, he is a good man, no? He also hired me to patrol the forest." She paused and sniffed the air. "And I would advise you to go back to the castle, Mr. Willig."

"What?" A chill came over Jake and that strange feeling that the happiness was being sucked out of him returned. Over Tepes' shoulder, a dementor was heading toward them. Tepes faced the dementor.

"Run, now, Mr. Willig," she ordered.

Jake ran.

***********************************

Jake ran faster than he'd ever run in his life. His feet were flying over the ground, one barely touching down before lifting again. He turned back to see if Professor Tepes was following him and missed the root that was in his path. He landed on hands and knees and felt blood trickle down his chin from where he'd bitten his lip. Scrambling to his feet, he ignored the pain in his knee and took off again.

As he reached the portico, he turned once last time. Professor Tepes was nowhere in sight.

"Going somewhere, Mr. Willig?" Snape sneered. The sneer faded as he took in the sandy-haired boy's appearance. "Willig?"

"Dementor. Forbidden Forest. Tepes," Jake managed to spit out before collapsing to his knees and sucking in great quantities of air. "I'm fine. Go," he said. Snape took one last look at Jake and took off. Jake hauled himself to his feet and headed for Dumbledore's office. Outside, he pounded on the door. The stone barrier was solid.

"There are dementors in the forest," he shouted as he hit the wall hard. This must have been enough for the door slid open and he ran up the spiral stairs as they ascended to Dumbledore's chambers. Not waiting for it to reach the top, he leapt off the stairs and hit the stone floor heavily.

"Oof," he said.

"I suggest that you get yourself to Madam Pomfrey, Mr. Willig," Dumbledore said as he hurried toward the exit.

"Headmaster, there...are...dementors..."

Dumbledore smiled faintly. "I know, Mr. Willig." He paused. "Go the hospital wing. Now." The old man practically ran down the stairs. Jake knelt on the floor for a few more minutes before slowly rising to his feet and heading to the infirmary.

**************************************

Jake was sitting on one of the hospital beds while Madam Pomfrey fixed up his knee and his hand...I really shouldn't have punched the wall to Dumbledore's office...

"Try that then," she ordered.

He carefully flexed his hand. No pain. Hopping down from the bed, he did a quick tour of the infirmary. The knee seemed to be fine. "Seems good," he said. "What about..." He gestured to his lip which was rather puffy.

"That will heal by itself," Madam Pomfrey said. She smiled slightly. "Miss Bell will just have to restrain herself for a few days," she said quietly.

"That's over with," he responded flatly.

Busying herself with her supplies, she ignored Jake's comment. "You may go back to your dormitory," she said and went into her office.

Jake pushed the door to the infirmary open and slowly made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. He thought about stopping by Dumbledore's again to make sure that Professor Tepes was OK, but decided that the old man probably wasn't there. Madam Pomfrey had done a good job with his knee and hand, but she'd done nothing for the weariness he felt. Going nine rounds with a punching bag and running for your life were two completely different kinds of physical activities. All Jake wanted to do was take a hot shower and collapse into bed. He gave the password to the Fat Lady and clambered through the portrait hole. He stopped short. Sitting in the same spots he'd left them at a few hours earlier were...I'll be damned if I'll call them my friends...Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Harry and Katie.

"Well, if it isn't my so-called friends..." he said bitterly.

"Where've you been? We've been worried sick," Katie said, rising from the couch and approaching him.

He flapped his thumb against his other four fingers. "Blah, blah, blah," he said.

"Jake!" Hermione said, clearly upset with his tone.

"Can it, Hermione," he spat out.

Ron stood up. "Don't you talk to her like that!" he shouted.

"Ron, it's all right," Hermione said, putting a hand on his arm.

"No, it's not. We've been sitting here like a bunch of imbeciles waiting for him to show up and then he treats us like crap. It's not right," Ron said, shaking off Hermione's hand and moving toward Jake.

"You wanna go, Weasley?" Jake threatened. Madam Pomfrey fixed the hand once...

"Yeah, let's..."

"What happened to you?" Katie said, finally taking in his appearance. "You've torn your trousers. And your lip." She reached out and gently ran a finger over his bottom lip. He winced and pulled away. "What happened?" she said more firmly.

"While you were busy gabbing about me, I was being chased by a dementor," he said rudely.

"A dementor? Does Dumbledore know?" Katie blurted out.

"No, Katie. I ran back up to the castle and then decided to go to bed," he answered sarcastically.

She flushed. Jake wasn't sure whether it was at the question she'd asked or his tone when he'd answered it. "Are you all right?" She again reached out toward him.

He backed away. She's acting like she gives a damn... "I'm fine. Tepes saved me."

"Tepes?" Ginny said hesitantly.

"I was down by the lake..." They didn't need to know that he was brooding over them. "Tepes was there. We were talking and then she told me to run. So I did." He turned to head to the dormitory.

"But your trousers and your lip...were you hurt?" Katie asked gently.

"Like you c--" he began to say as he turned back toward her. Something in her eyes made him stop. She was looking at him with concern...no, it's more than that...she's afraid... Jake realized that she was seeing him that horrible day that Tonks had saved him in Hogsmeade. "I'm fine," he said softly.

She stared for a moment longer and threw her arms around him, pulling him into a rib-crushing hug. For a second, he sank into her warm embrace, but remembered what had transpired earlier in the evening. He shrugged out of her hug and moved toward the stairs.

"There's something you need to hear," she said sadly.

He shook his head. "There's nothing you have to say that I want to hear," he said angrily. "Especially you," he said to her. "You promised me that you..." He shook his head more forcefully. Katie's mouth hung open and she was too stunned by his accusation to say anything. Fortunately, Hermione wasn't.

"Stop right there," she shouted at him. Her eyes were blazing. The other three shrank in their seats; they knew what she could be like when she was angry. Jake froze. "It's a wonder she loves you at all," she said coldly. "What with you taking that tone with her. Now sit down before I hex you." Jake hadn't moved. "Now, Jake."

He moved to the couch and sat. Katie was still standing, staring at him. He could see her willing herself not to cry. "The reason we've...well, not all of us...Katie wanted to tell you right away...the reason the rest of us have been avoiding you is that Harry, Ginny, and Ron overheard something over holiday. Something about your mum. Something...shocking...and none of us knew how to tell you..." Hermione explained. "Well, Katie did and we were going to tell you when you saw us sitting here earlier. If you hadn't been a total prat, we would have told you."

"Well?" Jake said, still being a jerk.

Hermione sat back down next to Ron. "I think one of you ought to tell it," she said to Harry, Ginny, and Ron.

The two boys looked at each other and then at Ginny. She sighed. "Fine, I'll tell him."

******************************

----Flashback--

"Shove over," Ginny hissed at her brother.

"If you'd quit elbowing me in the back..." he whispered back.

"Would the two of you shut up?" Harry said.

The three of them were crouched on the stairway of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Each of them had a flesh-colored string dangling from one of their ears. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting in the kitchen with Professor Snape and a few others. The meeting was winding down and the three teens knew they'd have to give up soon or be caught. However, a hushed conversation between Mrs. Weasley and Snape caught their attention.

"Have you been to see her yet?" Mrs. Weasley inquired.

"Why would I go to see her?" Snape sniffed.

"You and she were in l...involved once, Severus."

The three of them made faces at each other. Snape and a woman? Eww...

"That was a long time ago, Molly."

"Might do both of you a world of good."

"She's moved on."

"Yes, and her husband is dead. Has been for a long time from what I gather." A long pause. "For Merlin's sake, Severus, she's unconscious. What harm could it do?"

Ginny gasped and ripped the string from her ear. The two boys were staring at her oddly. "They're talking about..."

--End Flashback--

*************************************

"Snape and my mom?" Jake said. This was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

Ginny nodded solemnly.

"Snape and my mom?" he repeated.

"Now do you see why we didn't want to tell you?" Harry asked.

"Snape and my mom?"

"You did tell me that he'd asked her to join him...join V..."

"I know that I said," he snapped. Grouchy Snape...greasy-haired Snape...was involved with my mother? This, on top of everything else that had happened tonight, was too much to bear. Jake had two choices: cry his eyes out or laugh hysterically. He chose the latter and was soon guffawing like a lunatic. The other four people in the room just stared at him. "Snape and my mom?" He laughed harder. It was all too much. After a few moments of hysterical laughter, he stopped as abruptly as he'd started. "This is the reason you've been avoiding me for the last two days?"

"We're sorry. We just didn't know how to tell you," Ginny said cautiously.

"You could've just told me. Kinda like you just did," he replied.

"Katie wanted to..." Ginny said.

Jake's head snapped up. Katie...crap... She was still standing in the same spot, staring at him. He rose up. "Shit, Katie. I'm sorry..." he began.

She held up her hand. "I don't want to hear it," she said tiredly. "I'm going to bed." She turned and headed toward the girls' staircase.

"Katie, wait," he said, hastening after her. Catching her by the arm, he spun her around to face him. "We need to talk."

"What about? How you accused me of breaking my promise to you? How you believed that I'd keep something from you? How you don't trust me?"

"Katie...I..." he stopped, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

"That's all I ever seem to hear from you," she said sadly.

When her feet hit the first step, Jake thought for sure she'd turn around any moment. At the second step, he began to entertain thoughts that she wasn't coming back down. At the third step, he was almost certain that she wasn't coming back down. At the fourth step, he began to panic.

"Katie, please, stop." She paused without turning around...that's something I suppose... "I...I am sorry. And I know that I keep messing up. It's just that I've never..." He stopped. "I haven't..." Another gap. "People think..." Argghh! Why was this so difficult? "My mom..."

This was what finally got her to turn around. "Don't you dare use that as an excuse! Yes, your mum is President. Yes, maybe people in the past have liked you because of that." She descended a step. "I'm not one of those people. I didn't even know about your mum when we first went out." She descended another step. "I liked you because you're you."

"What is it with you boys?" Hermione muttered.

Jake's attention turned from Katie to his friends. Who were still in the common room. Watching this whole encounter as if it were a muggle soap opera. "Do you mind?" he whispered fiercely. If Katie was about to break up with him, he'd rather not have an audience. The four of them started to rise, but Katie motioned them to sit back down.

"I'd like for them to hear what I have to say. Because maybe then you will believe it, Jake," she said, descending yet another step. "I liked you because you're you," she repeated.

Jake felt numb. She'd said she liked me...as in past tense...as in she doesn't any more... He needed to say something. "Katie, I know that I was a complete jerk today, but that doesn't mean..."

"And then I fell in love with you because of us, how we are together, how you look at me, how you make me feel..." she continued, stepping off the step and onto the floor of the common room. "I. Love. You." She paused and took a deep breath. "But if you can't...or won't...believe that, then, I reckon..." Her voice trailed off.

He shook his head. "No, I do. And I..." He paused. Neither of them had said it since the night of the Yule Ball.

"Say it," Ginny hissed.

"I love you, Katie," he said. "And I'm sorry. I never meant...I should've..." His apology was cut off by her mouth. "Ouch," he exclaimed, pulling away.

"Jake!" Ginny hissed again.

"Sorry. It's just my lip," he started to explain. "Ah, what the hell!" He leaned in and kissed her again. A clearing throat interrupted. Jake and Katie glanced over.

"So, we're OK, mate?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I should've just asked what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions."

"But then you wouldn't be you," Hermione said teasingly.

"Hey! I resemble that remark," Jake retorted.