Everything Goes

Everything Goes

Chapter Seven

"Um, hi," Jade smiled and waved, trying to ignore the fact that they were giving us a look that promised expulsion, execution, or something equally unpleasant.

"Before you start and because I cannot possibly get into anymore trouble then I'm already in," I paused, "What the fuck?"

"Language, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, demonstrating the trouble we were in by the use of my last name.

I didn't apologize. After all, why bother? It wouldn't have helped any.

"You three," Snape said mildly, "Have some serious explaining to do."

We looked at each other. Ginny had gone pale, her skin contrasting sharply against the dark red of her hair. Jade looked completely composed. Draco and I feigned nonchalance.

"Well?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

I opened my mouth, paused, and then said the only thing I could think of, "We have no idea."

"Really?" I could practically see the sarcasm dripping off the word.

"Severus," was the only thing the headmaster said, but it was enough to silence the Potions master.

"It's true, though," Draco said, "We don't have any idea what happened."

"Curious," Dumbledore said.

"Can someone explain it, then?" Jade asked irritably.

"If we knew, we wouldn't be attempting to drag it out of you, would we?" Snape's voice and overall manner was coolly malicious.

Jade rolled her eyes and rephrased her question, "Can someone find out, then?"

"That, Miss Latimer, is what we are going to do," Dumbledore smiled benevolently.

It wasn't until they set us to work that we found out that by 'we', they meant us. Snape was supervising, which meant he was sitting at his desk marking papers, periodically muttering something about the morons he was subjected to on a daily basis. We were sitting at the table furthest from said desk, methodically going through what must have been half the books in the Hogwarts library.

Jade let out a long, low hiss, probably to avoid a shriek of frustration, "This is utterly ridiculous! We don't even know what we're looking for, let alone how to find it!"

"Keep looking," Snape said absently, "Perhaps you'll find something, or perhaps not."

Jade shot a glare at him, then slammed the book shut, narrowly missing my fingers.

"I said, keep looking," Snape's voice was calm.

"Why are we doing this alone? The Headmaster said 'we'. This isn't we, it's us," Jade snapped at him, trying to remain calm but slowly losing that battle.

"That is a we, as you are part of it."

"Okay, what happened to the rest of this we?"

"They left,"

She sighed, "I am never going to win, am I?"

"No."

"Forget it," she muttered, opening the book again.

And that was how we spent our afternoon. And the following evening. And, what do you know, the evening after that. We were getting quite close to giving up on it and damn the consequences.

Then, Ginny found it.

"Guys?" Nothing about her tone suggested anything unusual.

"Yeah, Gin?" Jade looked up.

"I think I may have found it," she brandished an obscenely large and incredibly daunting-sized book at us. I was reminded poignantly of Hermione.

Jade's eyes lit up, "Fabulous! Tell us and we will never have to do this again."

"Well, Jade, it's your fault."

"Mine?" she looked incredulous, and a bit smug. Trust a Slytherin to turn something like this into an 'I am better then the rest of you' moment.

"Yeah, yours. See, when someone has strong telekinetic abilities, sometimes that power builds up and, when not released, forces its way free in odd ways. Yours, because you don't use it, basically grabbed every person in Harry's rooms and sent us somewhere else. Your unconscious mind supplied everything: the clothes, the hotel reservation, everything. Then, later when we were in trouble, your unconscious mind brought us back. So, you did it without knowing that you'd done it," Ginny finished and took a deep breath.

My first thought was: What telekinetic abilities? Then I remembered the visions and realized that it was connected to that. I'd read once that seers often had powerful telekinetic abilities.

"See, I knew it was too well-done for any of you three to have done it," Jade said.

"That is so bizarre," Draco said, "Jade, you've got to get better control over those telekinetic abilities. Who knows what could happen next time?"

"Noted," was her only response.

"Mystery solved," I said, shaking my head, "And we have more to contemplate then ever. I, for one, am going to bed."

"Me, too," Draco stood up with me.

We left Jade and Ginny, not knowing and, frankly, preferring not to know what their plans for the night were.

* * *

The next day, we ran into Hermione's group in the hall. Hermione wasn't with them, but the other two were.

Dean, in a way that was completely unlike him, taunted us as we walked by, "Still sore over losing atrociously?"

"Atrociously?" Draco repeated, "You won by a minute and a fucking half!"

"We still won," he said superciliously.

Draco had gone dead white, a sign that he was pissed off. I, sensing danger, stepped in.

"Dray, let it go, they aren't worth it,"

He took a deep breath and nodded.

"Harry," Parvati said, "When did you get so close to the Slytherins? I mean, you used to be a great friend and now..."

Dean cut in, "Now you're just like them. Traitor,"

"Leave him alone," Draco said coldly.

"Can't fight your own battles, Harry?"

"Of course I can, Dean," I said coolly, "But when you have friends, they fight for you, too,"

"Which you would know if you had any friends," Draco sneered, putting all petty Gryffindor attempts at doing so to shame.

"Hey!" it was Dean's turn to look completely pissed off.

I didn't want to deal with anymore fighting, I grabbed Draco's arm and led him away.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from here," I snapped, then, weaker, "Anywhere but here."

We went to my rooms and, as classes were over for the day, stayed there, away from any other angry Gryffindors, for the rest of the evening. When it got late and we were getting tired, Draco didn't want to return to his dorm and, as half his wardrobe had somehow migrated to my rooms, stayed.

This, we would realize later, had not been a good idea. We stayed awake, talking, for a good hour and a half before actually falling asleep. This, in itself, was not the problem. The problem came when we woke the next morning.

We woke leisurely. I, for one, was very warm and comfortable. It took me a full two minutes to figure out what was wrong with the whole situation. It was a Wednesday. No normal teenager alive (particularly if said teenager had been up very late talking with his boyfriend) could get up leisurely on a Wednesday when there was school. Looking at the clock I discovered that we had exactly twenty-two minutes to get to Potions class. And counting.

"Draco," I prodded his shoulder.

"Mmph, lemme 'lone," he muttered, burying his face in my chest.

"Draco," I said louder, shaking his shoulder.

"What?" he opened one eye and continued, "Harry, go away, it's too early."

"Draco, we have twenty minutes to get to Potions, we overslept."

"What?" he was out of bed very quickly after that.

We dressed in record time, grabbed our books, and bolted to the dungeons. We weren't worried so much about being late to class; we were more worried about people noticing that both of us were late to class.

The class was starting right as we opened the door.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, nice to see that you decided to join us."

"We overslept," Draco said loftily.

It wasn't until after he said it that what he'd said hit home. I glanced at him, he looked faintly ill. Snape was looking at us closely. Then I noticed that Draco was wearing my black silk shirt, something I'd purchased when I'd redone my wardrobe over the summer previous. I had a feeling that he hadn't noticed yet.

The advantages of being gay and having a boyfriend who's the same size as you. Clothing is interchangeable. I don't think he's noticed.

The implications of Draco's remark were starting to dawn on the class.

Fuck.

Jade was giving us a look that said quite plainly, you morons.

I thought fast. "We were studying for the Transfiguration test last night and fell asleep over our books. We woke up late and realized that we had no time. No big deal, we're here," I lied smoothly, silently thanking every god and goddess I could name (and several that I couldn't) that we had a Transfiguration test that week. A difficult one that required studying, too.

Jade quickly backed me up, "Yeah, Professor, I studied with them for a bit, but left to finish an Ancient Runes essay at about eight. I didn't see Draco come back into Slytherin, and I was in the Common Room until almost one."

I was certain that every single one of those statements, except for perhaps the last one, were completely false. We hadn't seen Jade the night before. She had been writing that Ancient Runes essay during History of Magic, I'd seen her doing it. And I was pretty damned sure that she'd spent her evening with Ginny.

Thank you Jade, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Draco nodded, "That's right, Professor, you wouldn't want to punish us for being diligent students, would you?"

"Take your seats," was his only response. The class looked somewhat less then convinced.

Can we say gullible, boys and girls? I thought sarcastically.

We sat down and Potions class officially commenced.

* * *

"Some days," Jade said a few days after the incident in Potions, "I think you two have either spent far too much time together or I don't know anything about Harry."

"Why's that?" Draco asked.

"Because he can lie,"

"Oh, thanks," I said dryly.

"No, it's a compliment, I always thought you were crap at lying."

"Apparently not,"

"I suppose so, it's really useful, come to think of it. If you really were crap at lying, you two would have been caught in Potions earlier today and we probably would have been arrested when the police pulled us over during the Muggle London episode."

"'The Muggle London Episode'?" I repeated.

"Do you have any better things to call it?"

"No, yours works fine,"

"All right, then,"

Ginny came running in, panting slightly as she skidded to a stop, leaning against the table.

"What's going on, Ginny?" Jade asked instantly, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Everything... nothing... I don't know!" she gasped out.

"Okay, Ginny, breathe," I said, "Nice, even breaths,"

She took a few deep breaths, then continued, "Something is happening, the corridors are closing,"

"Closing? The corridors don't close," Draco interjected.

"They do now, I had to sprint to get down here as the corridors closed behind me. I almost got crushed by a wall."

"So we're trapped in the library?" Jade asked.

"I guess,"

"No," Draco said, "There's no way in hell I'm staying here for an indefinite period of time."

"Then we'll try to get out,"

They all looked at me.

"How?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows.

I shrugged, "We'll find a way. Let's move, people, no time like the present-"

"-To get ourselves killed," Draco finished for me, "But let's do it anyway."

We pulled out our wands and walked over to the door. We were the only people in the library. Sunny Saturday afternoons were not busy times for Madam Pince.

Opening the door and peering cautiously around it, I saw that Ginny was right, the end of the corridor had closed, a solid wall about two metres from the door. The wall at the other end, however, was just starting to fill in.

"Look!" I hissed, "Run!"

We bolted for the opening and dove through it, barely making it through before it closed.

On the other side of the wall, we landed in a heap of limbs on the floor.

"Oof," I coughed, attempting to shove Draco off me to free Ginny's legs, however, Jade was half lying on top of him, so that plan didn't work.

We scrambled up, dusting off and straightening our clothes.

"That was unpleasant," Jade said, shaking out her hair.

I nodded, looking around. The corridors on this side weren't filling in.

Yet. My mind supplied automatically.

"I think we're okay, for now, let's go,"

Walking down the hallway, we didn't see anyone else. It was really unnerving.

"Where is everyone?" Jade whispered, clutching Ginny's arm so tightly her knuckles where white.

"There had to have been people on this side of the school, too," Draco's bony fingers were cutting off the circulation in my wrist.

Ginny spoke in a voice barely louder then a whisper, "There was an announcement, people were supposed to meet in the Great Hall. I knew that you three wouldn't hear it in the library, so I ran to get you. I wasn't thinking, I should have known that we would be stuck on this side."

"It's okay, without you we would be stuck in the library. At least we have some freedom of movement."

Creeping closer to the point where the corridor verged into two separate corridors, the sound of voices reached us. I put a finger to my lips, straining to listen.

"They emptied the halls quickly, most admirable. I've always known that Dumbledore to be a good leader when he wants to be," the voice was male.

"Yes, they don't want any of their students getting hurt in this," another man, his voice slightly higher then the first's.

"True," a third, "Where did he send the students, anyway?"

"Their Great Hall, I believe," the second man again.

"Good, they'll be easy targets, all together in one room," the third man.

The conversation continued, but the men were walking away, so we couldn't hear what was being said. Draco moved to say something and I plastered my hand over his mouth to keep him quiet for a few moments longer.

He bit my palm.

"Ow," I hissed, removing my hand.

"Don't do that, Harry. Anyway, as I was going to say, who the fuck are they?"

"No idea," Jade said.

"We've got to stop them, they're going to kill people," Ginny said, "We can't let a thousand people die."

"She's right, you know, we have to step in," Jade's voice was faint, thoughtful.

"What if we get killed?" Draco asked, he sounded calm, but I could feel his fingers trembling.

"If we survive, then we did the right thing, if we don't - well, at least we won't have to put up with anyone saying 'we told you so'," I responded.

"Thanks, Harry, I am so reassured," Draco said mordantly.

"I knew you would be,"

"Let's go," Ginny said, exasperation creeping into her voice, "I swear, you two never stop,"

"Of course they don't," Jade said, "It's all part of the game, you know,"

"The game? What game?"

"Our lives, it's all a game, really. I hope that whoever it belongs to is enjoying it."

"That's morbid, Jade," Draco said.

"I aim to please,"

"Move," Ginny said, pushing Jade on ahead of her. Draco and I followed along, quite amused by the sight of tall, willowy Jade getting pushed down a hallway by much shorter Ginny.

"Shut up!" Jade called over her shoulder, hearing our laughter.

We didn't, not fearing Jade enough to actually stop laughing at her. We had even less to fear then usual, given that Ginny was holding onto her, guiding her down the hallway.

"I'm going to hurt the two of you," she called warningly.

"No you're not," Draco said, "We're too important to you."

"Ah, but I have Ginny now,"

"So? Does that make us any less important to you?"

"I haven't decided yet,"

Draco whispered to me, "AKA, we're just as important as we always were, she just doesn't want to admit it."

Everything was all right, we were getting somewhere, we didn't know what to do yet, but we'd figure something out.

Then it was all blown straight to hell.

* * *

"Problem," Jade said, pointing.

We looked, seven men, looking murderous, were striding in our direction. Some of them were probably the ones we'd heard earlier.

"You four, what the fuck do you think you're doing wandering around? You're supposed to be in the Great Hall!" one shouted, yeah, definitely one of them.

"Damn," Jade and Ginny said at the same time.

"We're fucked," Draco and I replied.

The man who had spoken came up, leading the other two.

"We're in control here; get out of the way! We're too busy for this."

"No," I said simply.

"You can't stop all of us, you're four kids."

"I don't have to stop all of you, I just have to stop you. You're the mouth," I had no confidence whatsoever in what I was saying, but I had to say something. I pretended that I was sure of myself.

He, to my intense surprise and chagrin, pulled out, not a wand, but a gun of some sort and aimed it at Draco.

What the fuck is he doing? I'm the one standing here threatening him!

"Get out of the way or he dies."

Draco was backing away quickly; he got five steps before the man looked at him.

"Stay where you are!" he barked.

Think fast, think fast, think fast. I thought fiercely.

"Time's up," the man moved to pull the trigger.

Suddenly it seemed as though everything was moving in slow motion. Without even pausing to think about it, I shoved Draco out of the way and the blast from the gun, not a bullet, but some kind of energy, hit the side of my chest.

I vaguely heard Jade shout something, but my world was quickly going dark.

My last thought before everything went black was: If this is dying, it isn't so bad.

* * *

"Harry, Harry, you have to turn around. They need you back there. Go home,"

My head whipped around, looking for the source of the voice, the speaker was a woman, tall and stately with long white hair and huge blue eyes. She was wrapped in black robes and had a belt of keys around her waist.

"Harry," her voice was like antique satin, faded and slightly torn, "I am the Guardian of the Gates. You must turn around. It isn't your day to die."

"It isn't?"

"No, nor is it Draco's, or Ginny's, or Jade's. This is an accident, nothing more. You can turn around now; go back to life. But if you go forward, there is no turning back."

"Where are we?"

"We are between here and there, this and that, tick and tock. We are in the in between, to one side lies life, to the other, death. Choose wisely, for you only get one chance."

"I'm going back," I said, "Draco needs me, I need him."

"So be it," she smiled and said one thing more, "May your mind be at peace."

* * *

I could hear sobbing. It took me a minute to realize that the one sobbing was Draco. Dry, heaving sobs, no tears.

I was dizzy, disoriented.

I was dead.

The thought chilled me. I had died. But I was all right; I'd chosen to come back.

"He's breathing!" a woman's voice...Jade? Yes, Jade.

"What?" Draco sounded shaken. Draco, I knew Draco without question. It was so strange, things were hazy, but coming back quickly.

"He's alive!" another woman, Ginny, cried.

"Harry?"

I went to answer, to put their fears at rest, but my mouth was dry and my voice refused to cooperate.

Draco leaned down over me, his ear near my mouth.

"Harry, Harry, talk to me."

I moved my lips and whispered something hoarsely in his ear.

"What'd he say?" Jade asked anxiously.

I could hear the smirk in his voice, "He said: 'I guess this wasn't a good day to die.'"