Everything Goes

Everything Goes

Chapter Eight

"Harry, you're alive!" Jade cried, hugging me tightly.

I gasped, "Jade, not so tight," I managed to choke out in a hoarse whisper.

She let up slightly, but held on for a few seconds more, reassuring herself that I really was still among the living.

"Jade, quit groping my boyfriend," Draco said.

Jade let go, turned to Draco and hit him upside the head. Draco, ignoring the fact that Jade had just slapped him, wrapped me in an embrace that was, if possible, tighter then Jade's had been.

"Okay, okay, I'm fine, really," I struggled to breathe evenly.

"You were dead, Harry! Don't tell me that you're fine!" Draco snapped.

Ginny, trying to be the voice of reason, said, "Harry couldn't have been dead, because he's alive now. Nothing can bring people back from the dead. He must've just been unconscious or semi-comatose, or something. Right, Harry?"

I pulled away from Draco so that I could speak, "No, no, I was dead. I went to the Gateway between Life and Death. I spoke to Her."

"Her?" Jade asked, raising her eyebrows in a way that suggested suitably Jade thoughts.

I frowned at her, "Yes, the Guardian of the Gates. A woman with white hair. I spoke to her; she gave me the choice to come back. I did."

"That is far too creepy for my tastes," Ginny shuddered.

Jade said, "Now you really do deserve the title 'The Boy Who Lived'. Now you've done more than just refuse to die."

"Don't be trite, Jade, please," I said, "I just came back from the dead, I haven't got the patience for it."

"Fine, but don't you want to know who they are?" she asked, pointing to the unconscious bodies of our attackers, who had quite obviously been not only searched thoroughly, but beaten up a bit in their cataleptic state, I hadn't noticed them before, having been somewhat distracted.

"Well?" I was not in the mood to play guessing games.

"They're assassins," Jade said promptly, reading my frame of mind, "They work for the Dark Lord for profit, in other words, he's paying them to kill people. They're not loyal to him at all, they go where the money is."

I wondered vaguely how Jade knew this, but let it go.

"So they could be swayed," I said, thinking ahead to the battle to come.

"Possibly, if we had any idea how much he was paying them," Jade's voice was thoughtful.

"We'd need money for that, or did you forget?" Ginny said.

"Money wouldn't be an issue, Ginny," Jade replied, "You're part of a wealthier crowd now. There is always money for people like us, and, now, people like you."

"Find out how much he's paying them," I said, "Maybe we could increase it and take away one of his weapons."

"We'll deal with that idea later," Draco said, "Let's get out of here," he and Jade tucked the weapons they'd taken from the men into their sleeves.

They helped me to my feet and I, after some the initial dizziness wore off, was able to walk down the hall fairly quickly, though walking in a straight line was somewhat difficult for the first few metres.

"Harry, you're walking like you're drunk," Ginny said, "Do you need some help?"

"No," Draco said, intercepting her halfway to me, "I've seen him drunk, he walks surprisingly well when drunk."

"Walking in a straight line is highly overrated," I said haughtily, shaking my head slightly and managing to narrow my steps into some semblance of a straight line. I was still hellishly dizzy, though, and the hallway kept spinning wildly out of focus.

"Better," Ginny smiled slightly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Draco slipped an arm around my waist.

"Yes, Dray, I swear, I'm fine."

"Hmm," he droned, unconvinced.

"Really," I said firmly.

"We'll see," Jade said, "After all, it's not everyday someone comes back from the dead. In fact, I think you may be the first."

"Of course I'm the first, I'm special like that,"

"Sure you are," Ginny said, patting my arm lightly.

"You people are so mean to me,"

The friendly banter was comforting. It was a constant, something that never changed, even when one of us had just come back from the dead.

Wow, I came back from the dead. How many people can say that? I thought with some dry amusement.

Eventually, somehow, we managed to come to the Great Hall. We weren't sure how, as we'd been nowhere near there when we'd started walking. The doors were closed.

"How the hell?" Jade and Ginny said at the same time.

"I don't know," Draco said, looking at the doors as though he thought that they'd disappear.

"This is impossible, but, then again, if I can come back from the dead, we can definitely come to the Great Hall from the other side of the school."

"Good point," Jade said.

Jade, being Jade, walked up and grabbed the doorknob. Unsurprisingly, the door didn't open. So, she abandoned all pretences of maturity in favour of pounding on the door with the heel of her hand.

"Hello!" she shouted, "Somebody in there! You've locked some students out!" she stopped shouting and added in a quieter tone, "You morons."

The door opened.

"Thanks," Jade said sarcastically as we entered the room, "First, we get locked in the library, then we were forced to run over here, jumping through closing walls, staging heroic rescues (okay, Harry staging heroic rescues), and bringing Harry back from the dead, but get here we did. And all because you didn't make sure that all the students were here!"

She stopped suddenly, drawing in a deep breath. Snape stepped in before she could continue.

"All right, go find somewhere to sit and stay there."

"Fine," she said superciliously.

We grabbed four free sleeping bags (purple ones, probably courtesy of the headmaster) and dragged them over to an empty corner. Most people had gathered close together in the centre of the room. Settling in, we relaxed, comfortable enough in the corner of the large room.

"So," Ginny said, "Let's have a human conversation for once. A conversation about stupid, irrelevant things."

"Okay," I said, leaning against Draco, not caring for once if anyone noticed.

"Ooh, I have a question for Harry," Jade said, grinning.

"Yeah?"

"When did you figure out that you were gay and how did you take it?"

"Late fifth year, thereabouts, and I took it badly. Total denial for almost eight months, it was that bad. I got over it eventually and I'm fine by now."

She nodded and, mimicking a psychiatrist, said, "A perfectly normal reaction in our prejudiced world."

"Ah, of course," Ginny played along, doing a bad German accent. "It is normal to go into denial when you learn that you are not the same as everyone else. Continue,"

"Therapy session's over," I said, "I answered the question, now it's someone else's turn."

"I have a question for Draco, anyway," Jade said, "So, Draco, how long did it take you to figure out that you were in love with Harry?"

"Well do just jump straight to the most personal question you can think of, Jade," He rolled his eyes.

"Just answer the question, Draco," I said, "I answered mine."

"Fine," He stuck his tongue out at me, the gesture struck me as being utterly ridiculous and I laughed.

"We're waiting," Jade said in a singsong voice.

"I don't know, really, it was gradual, a transition that happened so slowly that I didn't notice until way after it had happened."

"That's so sweet," Ginny said, looking as though she really meant it.

"Isn't it though?" Jade looked at her with a smile.

"Shut up," Draco said irritably.

"Oh, come on, Draco," I said, "Get over it."

"Well, it's not like they actually count as people, anyway, right?"

"I resent that," Jade sniffed.

"Good for you,"

Jade, lacking anything to throw at him scrunched up her face and stuck out her tongue like a two-year-old.

"How mature," Draco said.

"Oh, like you're any better," she scoffed.

"Of course I am,"

"Sure, Draco, just keep telling yourself that."

"Harry, tell this plebeian that she has no idea what she is talking about," Draco said to me in an imperious manner.

"Oh no, you are not putting me in the middle of this. Duke it out amongst yourselves," I held up my hands defensively.

"The same goes for me," Ginny agreed.

"You two are no fun at all," Jade said.

The conversation continued in a similar vein for a long while. We sat in our corner of the large room and kept ourselves well entertained.

However, as life is never fair to anyone, our pleasant evening ended rather abruptly when Ron came over to talk to us. Talk being a fairly relative term.

"Yes, Weasley? What do you want?" Draco drawled boredly.

"To talk, not against the law, is it?" Ron snapped defensively.

"Not yet," Draco replied smoothly.

Ron ignored Draco and turned to me.

"What are you doing, Harry?" he asked furiously.

I pretended to misunderstand, "What are you talking about, Ron?"

"Why aren't you over with your real friends? This is a big deal and you're over here with the ones who are probably behind it!"

"That's enough, Ron," Ginny snapped.

"It is also very stupid," I said, "How in the name of hell could they be behind it?"

"They're Slytherins!"

"Ah, of course, and that is ample evidence that they started all of this. Go blame Blaise Zabini next, that'll go over well. Or Crabbe and Goyle, they'll just knock your front teeth out, no big deal," I said easily.

Ron looked mortified; I turned away, my job done.

Having just lost his battle with me before it could start, Ron rounded on Ginny.

"What about you, Virginia! And you call yourself a Weasley!"

"All right, if being a Weasley means I can't be with the people I care about, then I'll call myself something else."

"How about Latimer?" Jade suggested innocently enough, though a wicked little smirk graced her features.

"Virginia Athena Latimer," Ginny said, rolling the name off her tongue, "I like it."

"Your middle name's Athena?" Draco asked, "That's a pretty name."

"Thanks,"

Ron looked somewhat disgruntled that not only were his plans of attack not working out, but we were completely ignoring his presence in our circle.

"What about you, Draco, what's your middle name?" Ginny asked.

"Ooh, I know! I know! I know!" Jade cried, waving her hand in the air.

"Good for you," Draco said, then, turning to Ginny, "Alexander."

"Draco Alexander Malfoy," Ginny said slowly, "It suits you. Thank god it's not Lucius after your father or some such shit."

"No, nothing like that, my mother refused. She wanted to name me Alexander, after some guy in her family, but father wouldn't have it, so it became my middle name."

"Ah, that makes sense," Ginny grinned, "What about you, Jade, what's yours?"

"Asvoria."

"Asvoria?"

"Yeah, Asvoria, it means 'divine wisdom', it's Teutonic."

"Jade Asvoria Latimer, wow, that's a stuffy, Slytherin pureblood name if I ever heard one."

"I am a Slytherin pureblood, thank you very much," Jade sniffed.

Ron looked ready to explode, "Why aren't you listening? Don't you care about anybody else?"

"Of course we care, Ron," I said, "But we can care about people other than you."

He didn't look like he believed me.

Sighing heavily, I turned to Ginny, "I've tried, but I simply can't get through to him. Your turn."

"Ron, I lived through your being made a prefect, I lived through all the Quidditch matches you played atrociously, I lived through all the times you were an idiot, and I didn't say much. However, when you act like this, I am tempted to take a leaf out of the twins' book and use some nasty prank on you. So shut up and get the hell away from us," Ginny's voice was flat.

Ron sputtered incoherently for a moment before storming off furiously.

"He's probably after reinforcements, as he can't outthink any of us without help," Draco said, "Hermione Granger is a good bet,"

"Harry, how in the name of hell did you survive with him as your best friend for so long?" Jade asked, "No offence, Gin, but he's such a, a, a blue-collar!" the word choice was funny as hell, even though I did understand her sentiments.

"No offence taken, Jade, he's my brother, not me. Besides, not all of my brothers are that bad."

"You're right," Jade said, "I rather admire the twins. Especially after fifth year, they were truly brilliant during fifth year."

"True," I said, "And I don't know how I managed."

"Hmm, well you did, so that's really all that counts," Jade said.

"I remember that year," Ginny said, "Fred and George's great escape from that woman was brilliant."

"That woman," Jade said, "Was a psychotic bitch from hell. I hated her. She favoured the Slytherins and I still hated her. She gave me detention, for Christ's sake!" apparently, no one could bring themselves to speak the name of the fifth year Defence teacher, myself included.

"She gave you detention, Jade?" I asked, "It wasn't, by any chance, writing lines with the black quill, was it?"

"No, she wouldn't dare, I wrote ordinary lines, with my quill. See, with you, well, there was no consequence for doing any damage. With me, on the other hand, there would have been rather large repercussions if she'd hurt me in any way, shape, manner, or form. So, I got to write the line 'I will not disrupt class' five hundred times."

"Five hundred?" Ginny looked aghast. "Five hundred?"

"Yeah," Jade said, beginning to laugh, "Five hundred. It was probably because she couldn't do anything worse. It took me three nights in her office, but I did write all five hundred lines. They were illegible by the end, but they did get written."

"In a sad, sad way, that's admirable," Draco said contemplatively.

"Gee, thanks," Jade said sarcastically.

"In a roundabout way, that was a compliment," Draco said firmly, sounding every bit as though he believed what he was saying.

"Quite,"

"We are an unusual bunch," Ginny said, looking around at us.

"Unusual, but interesting," I said.

Jade chimed in, "Our peculiarities are what make us so interesting,"

Draco looked affronted. "I haven't got any peculiarities!"

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "Really, now?"

He gave her a look.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"I have not got any peculiarities, I am just eccentric enough to be interesting, that's all."

"I swear we've had this conversation before," I said to Jade.

"Hmm, you're right, we have, only Ginny wasn't with us then," She looked at her girlfriend fondly.

"Please, Jade, don't go all mushy on us now," I said, "It'll make me vomit."

"Oh, don't tell me you and Draco never go all mushy," She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I'm not telling you anything except that I want you to stop before I am forced to deck you."

Dumbledore chose that moment to announce that the lights were to be extinguished in five minutes and we were to all go to sleep. The four of us settled our sleeping bags in the corner we'd claimed (and no one else seemed eager to take over, or ever get close to it) and, as soon as the lights were off, Draco somehow ended up in my sleeping bag.

"It's cold," he hissed defensively in my ear, wrapping his arms around my neck.

"Sure, Dray," I whispered back, hugging him back tightly and resting my cheek against his temple.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that Jade had moved into Ginny's sleeping bag and they were cuddled together, as close as Draco and I. Then I fell into the deep sleep of someone who was completely exhausted.

While I slept, I dreamed.

"Ah, Harry Potter..." the voice, dry and whispery, trailed off.

"Who the fuck are you?" I asked sharply.

"Does it really matter, Harry Potter? Truly?" the tone was slightly mocking in its infinite patience.

"Yes, I think it does," I filled my voice with all the annoying defiance I could come up with.

"Do you now?"

"Yes."

"Why?" the voice was full of laughter now. I wished I could see the...man?...yes, I thought the voice was male.

"I am not answerable to you."

"Oh, but you are, you just don't know it yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"You, Harry Potter, are very answerable to me. I am the only one you are truly answerable to."

"But what is truth?" I muttered absently.

"Very good, perhaps you are worth my time after all."

"Was that meant to sound complimentary? Because if so, you missed the mark."

"It was merely an observation, I thought that perhaps you were worthy, but I was not certain."

"How much do you know about me?"

"You are Harry James Potter, son of James Michael Potter, son of Cyprus Erik Potter, shall I go on?"

"So you know my family, that doesn't tell me what you know about me."

"You are an interesting one, most unusual."

"I've been told,"

"Aha!" the voice was again full of mocking laughter, "Arrogance! I love it!"

"What?"

"You, for all the games you play, all the things you do, are arrogant and proud. Much the same as others I have known."

"Which others?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I want to know who exactly I'm being clumped with."

"I see, you have a thirst for knowledge, yes?" the answer apparently didn't matter, as he pushed on immediately, "That is good, I approve. However, I am not going to answer you just yet. You figure it out. I will be seeing you soon, Harry Potter."

Before I could answer, the dream faded and I woke up suddenly, shivering with a cold that had nothing to do with the room.

Something had begun.