Heir Of Voldemort

A few days after chapter fifteen.

Notes: Well, its happened again. A chapter got too big for it´s boots (I try to keep them to 15 pages or under each), so I had to cut it in half, because it was just too frigging big. This was the second half of the last chapter, with a few additional scenes shoved into both now, to tidy it up, so now, the story is scheduled to end on the stroke of 21. (Although I do have an associate taking 3:1 odds on it turning into a 25-er - not a chance, Kristian!)

So, onto the summary of what´s been happening in the wonderful Wiz-world. I´m just tidying up the HP side of things at the moment, in this chapter & the one before it and trust me when I say big fun is about to start happening *naughty evil grin*

Still, it isn´t mine. I doubt I´ll get to JKR or Joss "the Genius" Whedon´s standard for a good while yet and I currently need all the practise I can get, so here we go again - more of my playing in other people´s playgrounds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Um...what are you doing?"

Ron looked up from the pages of the bridal magazine he was reading, grinning at his sister, who was standing in the doorway of the living room, clad in her pyjamas and dressing gown, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"We couldn´t go public with our engagement because we were waiting for you to get back, Ginny."

"Engagement?" She squinted at him, apparently barely awake. "You...? Eh?"

"Ron, she´s only been home for a week, she just got up and she doesn´t know I´m here yet," a female voice spoke from the kitchen, amused. "Can´t you let her get her bearings before you start boring her with our news?"

Ginny´s eyes bugged. "Hermione? You? And Ron?"

"That´s us," Hermione nodded, smiling, as she entered the room. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and looked strangely casual compared to Ginny's memory of her as Head Girl. "How are you, Ginny?"

Ginny managed to smile. "I-I think I´m good," she said, then looked down at Ron, who was still grinning like there was no tomorrow. One finger pointed at him and she shook her head, trying to start a sentence several times. "You...You and Hermione?!?"

"Don´t sound so shocked, Ginny," Ron laughed, as Hermione settled down beside him on the couch, one of his arms sliding around her shoulder. "You know we never do things normally in this family."

"I´ll say," Shaking her head, Ginny shuffled towards the kitchen, where her other brothers were eating breakfast. "This is going to take some getting used to..." She was mumbling to herself, as she sat down next to Bill.

"You heard the news?" Fred tossed a piece of toast off the grill to her.

"Hermione and Ron..." She nodded.

George chuckled at the expression on her face. "Nice to see we´re not the only ones who think that is just plain wrong..."

Spreading butter and jam onto her slightly-burnt toast, keeping her eyes down, Ginny tried to cover a smile, thinking of the wizard that she was in love with.

Even though she had been at The Burrow a week, remaining with her family, while Severus slipped away to see the Ministry, she still hadn´t got around the mentioning it to her brothers.

Something told her that she hadn´t really needed to tell her mother, even though they had discussed the matter in depth. As always, her mother seemed to know everything and more.

There was a firm rap at the door.

"I´ll get it!" their mother´s voice called from the hall.

Since Ginny´s return, Molly Weasley seemed to have learned something invaluable and was coping in a way that was astonishing her sons. One week earlier, they were sure that nothing could help her, but now...

"Good morning!"

"How can she sound so...awake at this time of the morning?" Bill groaned, shaking his head, already on his third cup of strong black coffee since Ginny had joined them at the table.

"Of course! Do come in! She´ll be delighted to see you! And you´re just in time for breakfast," The door closed down the hall and they heard their mother talking happily to whoever it was who had just arrived. "I won´t take no for an answer."

Fred scratched his head. "Has someone been force-feeding mum coffee again? She sounds a bit...scary."

"Fred! That´s not nice!"

"Indeed, Mister Weasley. That was rather rude," a silken voice behind Ginny spoke. Her eyes went wide and the toast fell from her hand as she spun around. "Good morning, Miss Weasley." Severus gazed down at her.

He barely had time to brace himself when a red-haired whirlwind crashed straight into his arms. All four men around the table - realising who was standing there - were staring at their former teacher.

Ron and Hermione, wondering what the fuss was about, peered in from the living room, apparently as surprised as the other four were to see Ginny wrapping herself in Snape´s arms.

George was the one to comment, as Ginny snuggled against Severus´ chest, her arms around his waist. "Ginny, you do realise you´re hugging Snape, of your own free-will, don´t you?"

Snape´s lip curled. "As always, Weasley, your powers of observation astound me."

"Severus!"

"Miss Weasley?" He arched a dark brow at her ominously, which only made her giggle harder, biting her lip. "I simply stated that your brother has truly astonishing powers of observation that are second only to Professor Trelawny´s psychic abilities."

"Be nice," she chastised.

"Ginny..." Fred, looking rather bemused, asked. "Did you just call him...Severus?"

Snape opened his mouth to reply, but Ginny held up a hand, giving him a knowing look. "Let me guess, Severus," she cleared her throat and, in a passable imitation of his tone of voice, said, "It is clear that such witty and observant traits are hereditary."

"You have clearly spent too much time with me, my dear," Snape chuckled, raising a hand to caress her cheek, his brow brushing against hers. "You are starting to know me a little too well..." He looked around at her brothers. "And yes, your beloved sister called me by my forename."

Much to their surprise, Ginny grinned. "Severus, can I tell them why?"

"You mean..." She looked up at him angelically. "No! Child, please..."

A wicked glint sparkled in Ginny´s eyes. "Oh, go on, Severus...it´ll be funny." He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it, quickly closing his mouth and eyes and shaking his head in despair. "That´s a yes, then..." Before he could stop her, she announced, "Everyone, I´m in love with an ex-Death Eater, who was a spy for the Ministry and who is a better shag that You-Know-Who was."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Snape went beetroot.

After several minutes of prolonged silence, George spoke up, directing the question to his brothers. "She is talking about Snape, isn´t she?" Several slow nods answered in the affirmative. "Oh bloody hell, Ginny!"

Burying her face in Snape´s chest to muffle her giggles, Ginny´s shoulders were shaking with laughter. In spite of his embarrassment, Snape couldn´t help chuckling with her.

"You wicked little witch," he muttered, his head bent to bring his lips close to her ear. "You´re going to pay for that."

Lifting her face to him, her lips curving in an adorable smile, her eyes danced. "I did hope so," she murmured, nudging the tip of her nose against his. "But we couldn´t have Ron and Hermione outdoing us, could we?"

Snape glanced sidelong at their audience.

The four eldest Weasley sons looked utterly stunned. Molly was smiling, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. Ron was shaking his head, grinning idiotically, his fiancée standing alongside him and smiling.

"I think it is probably a good thing that they are...a little surprised," he remarked in an undertone, for her ears only. "If I know how protective elder brothers are, had I been someone of your own age, who they did not know, I would be getting threats from all sides."

"But they´re too scared of you to do that," Ginny replied, equally quietly.

Snape raised a brow. "Scared? Of me?" Slowly, turning to glare at them from behind his curtain of hair, he had trouble keeping his face straight when they all immediately found somewhere else to look. "I can´t imagine why..."

Ginny laughed. "I have no idea, Severus, but its the first time that I´ve ever seen them speechless."

"If it helps," he started to speak to the four eldest brothers, but Ginny grabbed his chin, making him look at her.

"Don´t you dare!"

Black eyes gazed at her blankly. "You would rather I refrained from mentioning our high standard of...bonking?" Ginny squeaked in embarrassment, swatting his chest, as he chuckled. "I never imagined you were so prudish about it. After all, you were the one who brought it up..."

Bill was looking rather green, while the twins seemed to be finding something on the wall very interesting indeed.

"Do I have to shut you up?" Ginny demanded, scowling at him.

"If you must..." Before he finished speaking, her hands had slid behind his neck and pulled his mouth down against hers. His arms wrapped around her and she was almost lifted off her feet.

Ron closed his eyes, squinting through the narrowest of slits beneath his lid. "I really didn´t need to see that," he moaned, bringing a hand up to shield his eyes.

Releasing the panting and grinning Ginny, Snape smirked. "Be grateful that its only a kiss, Weasley."

After a moment of considering what was being implied by his ex-teacher, who was currently holding Ron´s little sister against his body in a more than intimate fashion, a dirty smirk on his lips, Ron´s face twisted in horror. "Euuuuuuuuuurgh!"

"You´re terrible, Severus," Ginny snickered.

"And you are surprised?"

Kissing his lips lightly, Ginny shook her head. "Not at all."

***

Worried looks were passed around the Council of Aurors.

"Do you believe he´s telling the truth?" Oliver Wood asked, leaning on the arm of his sat, his brows knotted in consternation. "After all, he is a Malfoy and they aren´t exactly known for their honesty and generous gestures..."

"We tested him with veritaserum as his trial," Benjamin Stone answered grimly. He was the head of the Council, his scarred face making him look much older than his thirty-nine years. "Every word he said was true. You-Know-Who has an Heir."

There was a communal intake of breath.

They had hoped it had all been a lie, an exaggeration or something.

"What are you going to do with the boy?"

Stone rubbed his temples. "He clearly came to us to absolve the crimes that he had to commit as a Death Eater," he said. "He has given us information that would place him on the blacklists of the Death Eaters by providing the advanced notice so we can prevent the rise of another Dark Lord."

"You´re saying he´s risking himself?" Sirius Black, one of the more recent Auror acquisitions, along with Wood, studied Stone dubiously. "I don´t know. A Malfoy always has a double-agenda."

"But the information," Ruby Wicks said, tapping the stump of her right forefinger on the tabletop. "You have to admit that he must be desperate, if he is turning over the Dark Lord´s Heir to us."

"Did he tells us where this Heir is?" Wood asked.

Stone shook his head. "He doesn´t know. All he knows is that the mother has been raising him in secret, teaching him the dark arts, so he would have been ready to join his father when he reached adulthood."

"Well, that really helps," Black threw his head back. "We know there´s an Heir out there somewhere. We know there´s a mother teaching him the dark arts. Oh, wait, we don´t know where we can find them."

"We have a description of her."

"That´s a big start," Black snorted derisively. "You do remember that she´s a witch, don´t you? That she can change her appearance by any number of spells? Hell, she could even use polyjuice..."

Stone motioned for him to be silent. "We have someone that I wish to contact," he said. "He worked for the Ministry, infiltrated You-Know-Who´s ranks."

"You tell me that you´re bringing Severus Snape in on this..." Black´s expression grew menacing.

"He was a spy, Black. He may know about this situation."

"If he did," the former prisoner of Azkaban muttered darkly. "Why didn´t he come forward before? Like he did so wonderfully when he let me get sent to Azkaban when he knew I was fucking well innocent?"

"Now, Sirius..."

Black raised his hands. "I´m just saying that he seems to be very picky with the information he gives to you."

"He´s the only who might be able to shed some light on this, Black," Stone repeated, his tone stern. "We can´t help it if you have a personal vendetta against him. This is the fate of the wizarding world we´re talking about."

Black slouched back in his seat, saying nothing further.

"Ruby, you and Wood interview Malfoy again. Get a full description of this mother of the Heir character. As much detail as possible," Stone directed. "I´ll see what I can find out from Snape."

***

"Good afternoon, Mr Stone. Professor McGonagall. Minister Hardy."

Stone´s two companions had been called, as they had both been aware of Snape´s double-sided mask, therefore providing some kind of support for the dark wizard and the ability to verify anything he had reported to them.

"Ah, Snape, do come in," Stone motioned to the seat opposite the desk, looking up in surprise when another figure edged around the door, brown eyes looking warily down at him. "Miss Weasley!"

She flinched back sharply, then managed to smile weakly at him. "Er...hello, Mr Stone...P-P-Professor McGonagall...S-sir..." She looked at Snape. "Severus..." Her eyes flicked to the busy waiting room, then back to him.

Snape smiled gently, unfurling a hand in her direction. She crossed the carpeted floor in a heartbeat, her hand slipping into his. "If you don´t mind, Miss Weasley will remain with us."

Stone raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, shuffling some parchments. Professor McGonagall tried to smile reassuringly at the girl, but her lips thinned. Hardy looked at the girl, then Snape and shook his head.

They sat down on the opposite side of the desk.

"I assume that Miss Weasley knows about your...duties for the Ministry?" Snape looked at her, then nodded. "It is regarding situations that may have arisen while you were partaking of these duties."

"I suspected it may be."

Stone looked down at the papers on the desk for a moment, then raised his eyes. "I need to know what you can tell me about You-Know-Who´s Heir," Snape´s face went white, his jaw locking. Ginny gasped. "You do know something?"

"I-I...I can´t say."

"Severus..." Professor McGonagall spoke. "Professor Dumbledore trusted that you would provide us with the information we need."

He nodded, one hand locking around the arm of the seat, his knuckles white. "He also trusted me to withhold that which I thought was necessary for the protection of innocents who might be involved," he said, his voice shaking.

"Snape," Hardy spoke up quietly. "We´re talking about the only living Heir of the Dark Lord. He must be contained, before he gains his full powers. We can not have another Dark Lord."

"Listen to me, please," Snape´s voice was shaking and he looked like he was about to be sick. "You don´t want or need to bring the Heir in. It won´t change anything. It won´t help matters."

"Severus, tell us what you know."

"I can´t."

"Can you give us good reasoning why?"

Snape looked at Ginny´s white face. Tears were shining in her eyes. "Because there is an innocent involved," he answered. "I don´t want another helpless innocent to suffer because they have been in contact with the Dark Lord."

"Severus, it has gone passed that," McGonagall said quietly. "We know you did all you can to help Miss Weasley, but this is the Heir of the Dark Lord. You must tell us what you know..." She paused, a stricken look crossing her face. "Or face Azkaban."

"No!" the flame-haired young woman shrieked, surging to her feet. "No! You can´t! You can´t take him away!"

Rising, Severus gathered Ginny to him, hushing her. Bringing her down to sit again, he looked at the trio on the other side of the table. "Minerva, if I thought that it was important, you know I would give you all that I know..."

"She is not making an empty threat, Snape," Hardy said. There was an apologetic expression in his brown eyes. "If you do not provide us with the information we need to pacify the Justice council, you will be sent to Azkaban for obstruction of justice and support of the Dark Lord."

Ginny´s plaintive moans grew more audible, her fists beating feebly against his chest as she sobbed. "No...no...you can´t...don´t leave me...you can´t go..."

His face contorting in pain, at Ginny´s anguished cries, Snape nodded. "I´ll tell you all that I know," he said quietly. "The mother of the Heir was a girl called Bones. I can´t remember her full name. She vanished after You-Know-Who fell the first time... no one knows where she is. She went into hiding with the child."

He paused to draw breath. "Just after the Dark Lord returned, he had been searching for her. She went to him, asked for permission to raise their child to adulthood, to full power, she claimed, before bringing it to the father. He agreed."

"Yes," Stone nodded. "And we know there was a photograph sent by the mother. We have it here."

He opened a folder in front of him, withdrawing a muggle picture. A striking youth with dark hair and eyes who certainly wasn´t Alexander Bones glared sinisterly out at them. Snape stared at it.

"Is this him?"

The former Potions Master nodded. "Y-yes. That´s him."

"That´s all you know of the Heir?"

"Yes," he lied easily. After all, he hadn´t been such a successful spy just because he could look convincing in a cloak and mask. He knew he shouldn´t go further, but he had to know. "What will happen to him and his mother?"

Stone sat back in his seat. "When they are found," When, not if, Snape noticed, a sick feeling spreading through him. "They will be arrested and tried. I expect the mother will be sentenced to Azkaban..."

Ginny went rigid in Snape´s arms. "No..." She turned to stare at them, shaking her head. "You can´t...you can´t send her to Azkaban..."

"Miss Weasley," Snape hissed, hoping that she would take the not-so-subtle hint not to mention knowing the mother of the Heir and arouse more suspicions than she had to. "You came here on the condition that you remained silent."

Brown eyes stared at him, then she nodded.

Neither of them saw the speculative looks that passed between the three people on the other side of the desk.

"And you have no idea how to contact this woman?" Hardy finally asked.

"No, sir."

"We had heard," the polished wizard murmured. "That you were her contact with the Dark Lord."

Snape´s lips pressed together in a thin line, briefly wondering who it was that had betrayed them. It would have to be one who had not taken the Blood Vow, probably one of the younger generation, afraid of Azkaban.

"I did not contact her. For one thing, I had no idea where to find her," he said, his voice grating. "I would receive messages anonymously through another source. I never contacted her. I couldn´t."

"Very well..." Stone gestured them towards the door. "That will be all, Severus."

With a suspicious look at them, Snape - with his arm around Ginny´s shaking shoulders - made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Do you think he knows more than he claimed?" McGonagall asked.

Stone shook his head. "The girl, though..."

"What of her?"

The wizard scratched his neck thoughtfully, his scarred brow wrinkling. "I´d suggest keeping an eye on her, at least. I think she might know a bit more about this situation than she let on."

"I´ll arrange that," Hardy said.

"Good," Stone muttered. "The sooner we take care of this, the better."

***

"And they know about Alexander!"

Cassandra was swaying where she stood, the telephone gripped in her hand as if it was a snake. "You...you´re sure, Ginny?" she asked, her voice trembling. "I mean, is there a chance..."

"Someone told them...one of the Death Eaters..." the girl´s voice was ringing and hysterical on the other end of the line. "Cassandra, I don´t want them to catch you, but they´re looking! They know what you look like! And Alexander!"

At that, Cassandra froze. "Wh-what?"

"They had a photograph of him..."

"Oh!" Relief flooded the blonde witch. The picture of Jesse she had sent. It was a face they were guaranteed to never find. "Ginny...listen to me, okay? I need you to find out all you can. Let me know what´s happening. See how far they are getting and keep me updated."

"Wh-what are you going to do?"

Cassandra sighed. "I know some glamour spells...I can´t guarantee they´ll hide me, but I´ll try what I can. You take care, all right?"

"O-okay. Bye for now."

"Bye," Hanging up the phone, Cassandra sat down heavily on the arm of the sofa, staring ahead of her, not really seeing anything.

So they knew...

Not just the Death eaters, but the Ministry.

Looking down at her hands that were suddenly feeling very cold, she watched them shaking against her thighs. Lifting them, she pressed them against her face, which felt like it was on fire.

"Oh God..." The first sob took her by surprise with its intensity. "My baby...don´t let them find my baby..."

***

"Mrs Weasley?"

"Yes?" Molly Weasley had just stopped cleaning, her hair tied up in a purple scarf, a few strands of red curling around her cheeks, as she greeted the two Ministry wizards at the front door, one dark haired, one blonde.

They were younger than most Ministry wizards used to be, a lot of them having to be replaced thanks to Voldemort, who had cut down whole swathes of Ministry Officials and workers, just because he could.

A file was held out to her. "Some information, regarding your son, Percival, has come to light. We believed you might want to know."

"In-information?"

"Regarding his stance, when You-Know-Who was at his peak."

Molly looked at the folder, feeling a little dizzy. "I-if you mean he was a Death Eater then I...I already know."

"Actually, we´re afraid that it is a good deal more complicated than that," the first wizard prompted gently, proffering the brown file again. "I suggest that you read the file, before condemning him."

Taking the folder, hesitantly, Molly wet her lips that felt awfully dry all of a sudden with her tongue. "Do...do you want to come in for a cup of tea or something?" she asked in a voice that sounded nothing like her own.

"No, thank you," The dark-haired one smiled politely. "We ought to be returning to the office. It was just a matter of seeing that you received the information enclosed in that file personally."

"Thank...thank you," Smiling back uncertainly, Molly Weasley closed the door and made her way through to the living room, where her two eldest sons and youngest daughter were.

Bill was studying some of the Gringotts accounts he had been working, tidying up the numbers, piles of parchment surrounding him, while Charlie read an article about a new breed of dragon, which had appeared in the South Seas. Ginny was playing solitaire on the floor.

Sitting down in the big, empty seat beside the fireplace, Molly withdrew her wand and touched the magic seal on the folder, which melted away instantly, letting her open the brown folder.

"What´s that, mum?"

Molly´s brows wrinkled. "I´m...I´m not sure," she answered carefully. "The Ministry have found out something about...it´s about Percy..."

Ginny´s head popped up instantly, her face white. Bill´s jaw tightened and Charlie said nothing, keeping his eyes on the article in front of him, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Bill´s fist again.

"What...what about him?" Bill managed to grit out through clenched teeth.

Molly raised a hand to silence him, reading through the transcript of a trial, which had apparently happened a few days before. "Oh dear God..." she whispered, another wave of dizziness washing over her.

"Mum?" Ginny sat up straighter.

Molly couldn´t find words to reply, her hands pressing to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. She shook her head, staring at the words blurted out by a young wizard, under the influence of Veritaserum.

"Mum?" Charlie did look up now, concern on his face.

Bill started to rise from the seat he was occupying. "Mum, what is it?"

"It´s Percy..." she whispered, tears rolling down her suddenly-pale face. "He..." Her voice became angry. Clasping her hands over her face, she groaned, pushing them through her hair. "How could we have been so bloody stupid?"

"Wh-what is it?"

"He...he was under the Imperio curse, Ginny," Molly whispered, looking back down at the parchment lying in her lap. "Everything he did to a member of this family, he did because of that..."

Ginny whimpered, Charlie reaching down to touch her shoulder, his own face losing its colour.

"A-a-apparently, h-h-he wasn´t killed...by them..." Molly´s voice was shaking so hard that she was barely coherent. "After h-he hit Ginny, h-h-he managed to b-break the curse...he...to... to sto-stop Y-You-Know-Who using him a-against us..." A sob escaped her. "H-he killed himself...to...to stop them h-hurting us..."

"Oh my God...my God..." Bill whispered, his already-pale face going from white to grey. He had been the member of the family who had been ready to condemn Percy instantly. "Mum, I..."

"I-I-I should have known..." Molly whispered, letting the file slip from her lap, pages scattering all over the floor. "Percy would never...could never..." She buried her face in her hands. "My little boy..."

Ginny was across the room like a shot, crying too, and cuddled into her mother´s arms, both of them weeping. Charlie looked like he had finally come to understand something that was troubling him and lowered his head.

Bill, though, had guilt etched on every line of his face.

"Perce..." he whispered, hoping and praying that wherever his younger brother was, he would hear. "I´m sorry...I`m so sorry..."

***

"We´ve got her, sir!" Stone looked up at the switchboard connection and the wizard sitting, hooked up to the wire.

In the weeks since they had started following the Weasley girl, she had regularly been caught using the muggle phone lines - most frequently, at random call-boxes - and they had finally managed to tap into the right connection at the right time.

"We have a number..."

"Which means?"

The young wizard, Paul Peregrine, looked up at him. He didn´t know what it was about, but he knew it had to be serious, because of the amount of overtime everyone was pulling in on the job, many of them doing so voluntarily.

He, himself, was low in the Ministry, but he had the technological know-how that came from being a muggle-born that the Ministry wanted to use, doubling his pay and giving him his own office for the duration of the situation.

"We´ll have an address soon."

A quietly triumphant look crossed Stone´s tense face, which relaxed for the first time in weeks. He closed his eyes, releasing a sigh.

"Sir, if I may ask..."

"What is this about?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I trust this information will remain confidential, Peregrine."

"Of course, Sir."

Stone rubbed the bridge of his nose with a fingertip. "You, of course, know of the situation with You-Know-Who," Peregrine nodded. "Apparently, at some point during his first rise, he sired an Heir."

"Shit, sir!"

"Yes...yes...one might say that," Nodding towards the large computer and telephone networks on display in front of Peregrine, Stone gave him a weary look. "We couldn´t find the mother through magical means, which is why you were called in."

Peregrine´s enthusiastic expression shifted slightly. "I-I´m here to find the mother of the Heir, Sir?"

"Indeed you are."

Turning back to his terminal with renewed vigour, a look of determination on his face, Peregrine starting battering the keys on the numerous keyboards, his eyes flicking across various screens in front of him, shifting the headset.

Stone sighed.

He couldn´t be prouder of all of his people.

They knew exactly what they were doing and they worked so efficiently.

The Heir would be in their hands by nightfall.

***

Cassandra was in the middle of doing the laundry when there was a knock at the front door, startling her.

A surge of bitter fear burned in her gut and, checking that her spell was still in place so she would look like an Afro-American woman to anyone who wasn´t a family member, she ran up the stairs from the basement, squinting through the gauzy curtains of the living room.

A large group of figures were gathered outside.

"Oh God..."

Slipping back down the flight of stairs into the basement, she ran across the floor, reaching the back door and opening as quietly as she could, edging out into the warm Californian afternoon.

Two men in robes greeted her, unsmiling.

"Wh-who are you?" She demanded, her voice shaking.

"No questions," one of them growled, grabbing her by the arms and steering her back into the house. She could feel her skin bruising as she was dragged up the staircase, the group at front door having - apparently - let themselves in.

Thrown down, hard, in front of the leader, she landed heavily, wincing. A pair of black shoes appeared in her line of sight and, reluctantly, she raised her eyes up the body of the wizard, his scarred features horrific.

"Don`t hurt me! Please!" Feigning ignorance, she started to sob, waving a hand in the direction of the money jar that sat on the fireplace. "Please! Take the money! Take anything! Just don´t hurt me!"

"This act is pointless, Miss Bones," The tall, scarred man stepped forward from the group, his expression serious. "We know who you are."

"Who´s Bones?" Cowering down on the floor, Cassandra was sobbing in earnest, shaking violently. "I´m Cassie Harris! Never heard of Bones...never heard of her... don´t hurt me..."

"Stone, you don´t think..." One of the robed witches spoke, sounding a confused.

The scarred man raised a hand for silence. "There´s one way we can be sure," he said, gazing down at her emotionlessly, those dark eyes making Cassandra feel worth less than a piece of dirt.

"Sir?"

"The Mark."

Cassandra´s eyes went wide. NO!

Scrambling to her feet, she made a break for one of the windows, willing to hurl herself through the pane of glass if she had to.

A hand locked onto her wrist, whipping her round savagely, her momentum sending her crashing into the wall and hard. A cry of pain escaped her as she heard her jaw crunch, blood spilling from her lips.

Two pairs of hands grabbed her, forcing her up against the wall, face-first, one hand on the back of her head crushing her face against the rough paper, her breath escaping in gurgled pants.

"NO!"

"Remove her shirt."

"Sir?"

"LET GO OF ME!"

The scarred man spoke again. "My informant stated that he heard she was marked on her back, instead of her arm," There was a moment of silence. "Take the shirt off, Wood. Now."

"NO! Please! Please...don´t..." Sobbing, she cried out as one of the hands holding her crushed her face harder against the wall, the younger one - Wood apparently - grasping the thin material of her shirt.

It brought back the memories, so many memories...of Voldemort disrobing her to shame her, of her husband´s friends when they had the chance to toy with her, her husband´s own hands guilty of that same crime.

Sobbing and struggling against them, she felt a rush of air across her back as her shirt was ripped away and several sharp intakes of breath from the group of wizards surrounding her.

"The Dark Mark..."

Cassandra went limp with defeat, sobbing bitterly. Slumping down against the wall, she folded her arms over her bare chest, shuddering. There was nothing else to do without her wand.

She had tried to conceal the mark, but nothing would cover it and now, they knew it, knew who she was...

Jerked around by a gnarled hand, a wand was thrust under her chin, forcing her face up. "Drop this mask, Bones."

It was the scarred man who spoke. Unable to fight, the glamour melted away, leaving the pale, terrified witch sprawled on the floor at their feet, blood staining the lower half of her face.

Disgust was scored into every one of the faces looming over her and she hunched down, burying her face in her hands.

"Cassandra Bones," the voice continued, barely even reaching her awareness. "You are hereby under arrest by the authority of the Aurors council, for your allegiance to the Dark Lord."

"No...no...no..." Shaking her head, she lifted her tear-streaked, bloody face to him. "I didn´t do anything..." Tears were rushing down her pale cheeks in rivers. "If I was dark... if...I would...wouldn´t I have attacked you? Wouldn´t I? Please..."

"Sir..." Wood was staring at her. "Are...are you sure this is the right person?"

"Don´t listen to her, Wood. She´s lying, no doubt." A middle-aged witch muttered to the young man. "Many Death Eaters had skills with words, to manipulate those around them into believing them."

"Please...please...please..." Sobbing, rocking back and forth, Cassandra´s fingers dug into her scalp.

Stone studied her for a long moment. "Give her something to wear. Let her cover herself." He said quietly. "I want a portkey outside the front door as soon as possible. I want the muggles here to believe that she has been taken by muggle law-keepers."

Wood nodded, shrugging out of his own travel cloak and squatting to drape it around her shoulders. Cassandra stared up at him, one of the witch´s hands rising to touch his face so softly that he wasn´t even sure that she had made contact at all.

"I´m sorry," he muttered, tucking the robes around her, then pulling back.

Kneeling on the floor, Cassandra bowed her head, weeping quietly, pulling the black cloak tight around her shaking shoulders, wishing she had some way to contact either Ethan or her little boy.

***

Hands thrust deep in the pockets of his baggy jeans, Alexander smiled at the thought of what he had done the night before, without anyone even being aware of it.

Thanks to his knack for getting thrown around, knocked over, hit or generally being accident-prone, he had been banned from `getting in the way´ at the library when something had come about the Hellmouth opening.

Yeah, he had also had sex with Faith.

He grinned.

Sex was definitely of the good.

How things had changed with the arrival of the fiery new Slayer, Faith, only a few months earlier.

Buffy had a Slay-buddy.

He had someone new to check out, although his eyes - and heart - did keep returning to Cordelia, despite the fact she went out of her way to put him down. Hardly a big surprise, since he had sort of ended up having Willow-smoochies, when he was only meant to be getting Cordelia-smoochies.

And now, he´d had sex.

Smothering a grin, he tried to think past that for five minutes.

To think about the fact that he might have just saved the world.

Yes, his friends had been in the library, closing the Hellmouth, fighting and doing spells, but had he failed, then the school would have been blown to pieces, his friends would have been killed and the Hellmouth would be open.

When some undead ex-pupils of Sunnydale High had set a bomb up in the basement of the school, he had been the only one who knew about it, he had been the only one who could stop it.

Turned out to be a game of chicken...

When asked if he cared about dying...

"I like the quiet."

It was true, although he knew that he would have one very dirty pair of boxer shorts when he got home.

And not for the sex reason...

"Way to go, Harris," he murmured. "Meet pack of zombies, find out zombies plan to blow up the school, have sex," Again with the big grin. "Find zombies, save school, save world..."

Turning the corner into the street where he lived, he was a little surprised to see a police car parked by the sidewalk, his expression shifting to one of confusion when he realised it was right outside his home.

"What the...?"

Had mom finally been taken too far?

Had dad been caught?

Starting to run towards the house, he saw the front door open, a group of men and women in black robes emerging, two of them flanking his mother, who was also clad in a black cloak, her face bloody and tear-stained.

She raised her head, when he was still half a block away, her eyes going wide.

"ALEX!" Lunging forward with a scream, she almost broke free from the two men flanking her, one of them grabbing at her, pinning her arms to her sides. "Alex! RUN! Tell Giles! Get Ethan! Tell him to get Ethan!"

"Shut up!" The robed man holding her dragged her forward, Alexander running as fast as he could to try and reach them, to save his mother.

"TELL GILES!" His mother screamed wildly as the robed men gathered around the car, all of them laying a hand on it, one of them forcing her hand against the metal as well. "GET ETHAN! GET..."

She continued to scream, as one of the men withdrew a stick of wood from his robes and pointed it at Alexander with a cry of, "Petrificus totallus!"

Alexander didn´t know what happened. One minute he was running, the next, it felt like he had been encased in concrete, his eyes wide, as he fell forwards, landing on his face on the ground.

"ALEX!"

He was aware of someone moving, hands turning him onto his back, staring at his face, and someone said in a voice that reminded him of Giles in a strange way. "Isn´t him, sir."

"Alex...get up...please...get Ethan...tell Ethan..." He could still hear his mother´s cries, but he couldn´t manage to make himself move, his eyes staring straight up at the clear sky above them.

And suddenly, silence.

It seemed like an eternity before he could move his body again and he scrambled unsteadily onto his feet. He hadn´t heard the engine of the car start so they must still be there, although it was eerily quiet.

Turning, he found the road vacant.

The spot where his mother, then men and the police car had been was bare.

On legs that suddenly felt like jello, Alexander looked around. When his voice escaped, it was in a trembling whisper, "Mom?"