Dreaming Of You

Dreaming Of You

Part 17 - If I Could Reach You

Chapter 27

Lost in the darkness
Silence surrounds you
Once there was morning
Now endless night.

"I hate my life."

"That's cheerful," Autumn said, sitting down at the lunch table in the seat opposite Hazel. "Anything you hate in particular?"

Hazel pushed her history textbook across the table, unable to concentrate. "Everything. I hate school, I hate my exams, and I hate not knowing where Lianne is." She sighed. "Do you think Erin got an answer to that letter we sent yet?"

Autumn shook her head. "I have no idea. I just can't believe that could work. Just because some guy is playing a joke on Erin doesn't mean he knows anything about Lianne."

"Well, we'll find out soon, I guess," Hazel said. She glanced around the courtyard. "Have you seen Erin today?"

"Nope. I had to make up a chemistry quiz before school," Autumn said. "You haven't seen her?"

"Library," Hazel explained. "I haven't been able to study lately. I thought the atmosphere might help." She looked down at the tabletop. "It didn't."

Autumn looked at Hazel with no small amount of concern. "Something's wrong, isn't it? Something else?"

Hazel pulled her textbook back, then dropped her head on it rather than the filthy tabletop. "I think I'm losing my mind."

"You aren't!" Autumn said fiercely.

"Maybe I am." Hazel didn't seem disposed to listen. "Maybe we all are. This is weird, Autumn. Really weird. No one knows anything about Lianne anymore, and we all said it was like she'd never existed. But what if that's true? What if she really never did exist? What if everything we think is happening now is just some mass hallucination?"

"What if the skies rain blood and drown us all?" Autumn said tartly. "We aren't crazy. There's a reasonable explanation for all this. We just have to be patient, and wait to figure out what it is."

Hazel shook her head without lifting it from the book. "Some things can't be explained. Besides, it would be a rational explanation to decide that we need to turn ourselves in to the nuthouse."

"Don't talk like that," Autumn ordered impatiently. "We aren't crazy, ok?" Hazel didn't react. "God, where's your cousin when we need her? She could snap you out of this."

"I'm not going to snap out of it," Hazel said quietly. "I've been thinking about this almost constantly - how can I not? - and I don't understand any of this. I understand insanity. I don't like it, but I understand it." She stood abruptly, picking up her history book. "I need to study. I'm going to the library."

"We're supposed to meet Erin," Autumn objected.

"You can meet her." Hazel gathered the rest of her belongings. "Tell her I need to be alone."

Autumn watched Hazel go, a very unhappy expression on her face.

It did nothing to lighten her mood when Erin didn't show up, after all.

~*~

Hazel unlocked the door to her house, stepping in and dropping her backpack to the floor of the hall. "I'm home!"

"Did you bring food?" Perry, one of her three brothers, asked hopefully. As a fourteen-year-old, he was perpetually hungry, and he tended to focus on his older sister as a source of food.

"What, from school?" Hazel smiled. "I don't think you'd like what they serve there."

"Oh. Ok." Perry immediately lost interest, retreating to his video games.

Hazel shook her head as she began to replay the answering machine messages. No one else ever listened to them.

"Hi, sweetie," her mother's voice came from the recording. "It looks like I'm not going to get home until late tonight. You know the traffic from here to Washington - it's rotten. Why don't you call your father and ask him to bring home a pizza? Love to all of you!" The machine beeped.

"Hi, honey," her father's voice said on the second message. "I know I said I'd try to be home early today, but an emergency came up at the office - you know how it is. I doubt I'll be back before midnight. Call your mom - maybe she can pick up some fast food on the way home. See you in the morning."

After another beep, the third and final message began. "Heya, little sis! You there?" Hazel smiled to hear her brother Chiram's voice. He'd gone away to college as a freshman this year. She missed having him around. "Well, I guess you're still at school now, but I was thinking about you and I wanted to say hi. Call me when you get a chance. And don't get so stressed you forget, either. My love to Perry and Shiro - and Mom and Dad, wherever they are. Don't let 'em run you ragged. Talk to you later!"

Hazel's smile faded as the message ended. If Chiram were there, he could cheer her up easily - but he'd gone to New York to study music. The distance weakened the power he had to make her more optimistic.

"Are Mom and Dad working late again?"

Hazel looked up. Shiro, her twelve-year-old brother, was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase. "Looks like it. So," she sighed resignedly, "grilled cheese?"

"We had that last night," Shiro pointed out, following Hazel into the kitchen. "Can we have cheeseburgers?"

Hazel looked over her shoulder at her brother, raising her eyebrows. "And how do you expect us to get these cheeseburgers?" She began searching the pantry. "I could try some spaghetti."

"I don't like spaghetti. You could drive us to McDonalds," Shiro suggested hopefully.

"How? On my bike?"

"No." Shiro gave her a scornful glance. "In your car."

Hazel stopped, frowning. "I don't have a car."

Shiro stared at her. "Yes, you do. Grandma paid for most of it as your Christmas and birthday presents, remember? And Mom said you have to do yard work to pay for your part."

"No." Hazel shook her head slowly. "Shiro, you're getting confused. Grandma bought that car for Erin, not me. Chiram said he wouldn't need a car at college, and Erin's the next oldest grandchild."

"What are you talking about?" Shiro's eyes were blank with confusion. "Who's Erin?"

"You know, Erin. Your cousin." Hazel went very pale. "You do remember Erin, don't you?"

"Is this someone you know from school or something?" Shiro asked, puzzled. "I don't know any high school kids."

"Shiro Randel, this is not something to joke about!" Hazel's voice went a notch higher as it took a hysterical twinge. "Tell me you remember Erin." Shiro didn't answer, backing away towards the game room where Perry was. "Tell me!"

This got Perry's attention. He stuck his head out of the room, looking angry. "Be quiet, I can't - " He stopped, his eyes darting from Hazel to Shiro. "What - "

"Perry, you know who Erin is, right?" Hazel interrupted, panicky. "Erin Connor? Our cousin?"

Perry blinked. "We have a cousin named Erin? Is she related to Aunt Rosemary?"

"She's Aunt Rosemary's daughter!" Hazel all but screamed. "You know that! Stop trying to be funny - "

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Perry snapped defensively. "Aunt Rosie and Uncle Caleb haven't got any kids. I don't know what you're yelling about, but I wish you'd stop and let me get back to my game."

Hazel drew away from both her brothers. "You're teasing me." Her voice wavered uncertainly. "Well, I won't let you. I - I'm calling Erin, at Aunt Rosemary's house. She'll come here and yell at you, and then you'll be sorry!"

Hazel fled upstairs, away from the bewildered stares of her brothers, and dialed Erin's number on the phone. Her Uncle Caleb picked up. "Connor residence."

"Uncle Caleb!" Hazel breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!"

"Hazel?" Caleb asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

"No - not really. Just my brothers being idiots," Hazel said, calming slightly. She'd been silly to believe those boys, really. They were just playing a stupid joke at an unfortunate time, that was all. "Is Erin there?"

"Erin?"

The bottom dropped out of Hazel's stomach. "Yes, Erin. My cousin. She is there, isn't she?"

"None of your cousins are here, sweetie," Caleb said. "The rest of the family is in Georgia. Are you feeling ok?"

Hazel stared at the phone. "You're in on it too?"

"In on what?"

Hazel drew a shaky breath. "This isn't funny. You tell whoever came up with this that I am not laughing!"

She slammed the phone down, ignoring her uncle's protests that he knew nothing about it. They were lying. They all had to be lying.

"Oh, please, God," Hazel whispered, "let them be lying."

Chapter 28

If I could reach you
I'd guide you and teach you
To walk from the darkness
Back into the light.

"What are you reading?"

Hazel looked up from her history book, startled at the voice. "Harry?" She looked around, realizing she was within the now-familiar stone walls of Hogwarts - or at least, she reminded herself, the way she dreamt of Hogwarts. She shook her head a little, to clear it. "I must have fallen asleep while studying."

Harry picked up the history book. "History of the U. S.? No, wait - " He looked closer, starting to grin. "Cliff Notes? This appears to be the shortened version. Someone is cheating on her reading."

Hazel took the book back. "I don't have time to talk. I need to study." Her voice came out harsher than she'd intended. Harry took a step back.

"Sorry," he said, holding up his hands apologetically. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'll leave." He started for the door, then stopped. "Can I leave?"

"I'm not stopping you," Hazel said, miffed. "Go, if you don't want to be here."

"It's not that." Harry stared at the door thoughtfully. "It's just that I always start dreaming just as I open this door. I've never really wandered the school, except for that time I dreamt about almost getting caught in Snape's classroom."

"Does it matter?" Hazel asked, staring fixedly at a passage about the drafting of the Constitution.

Harry looked back at her in hurt disbelief. "Hazel, what is wrong with you? You've never acted like this before."

"Well, when your friends start disappearing out of the blue, maybe you'll understand!" Hazel exploded. "My cousin is gone now - my own cousin! Do you know what that's like? No one will even acknowledge that she ever existed! She is my best friend, and now she's just gone!"

Harry's eyes were wide. "This isn't the girl you were talking about before? Now two people are gone?"

"That's what I said." Hazel sniffed, rubbing at the tears that kept forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Here." Harry pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and reached out, drying her eyes for her.

Hazel swallowed hard at the touch, warm and comforting. "Y-you carry a handkerchief?" she asked in a small voice.

Harry smiled lightly. "Wizards in training tend to make mistakes that require instant cleaning," he told her. "More so with the more we learn, strangely enough. A small piece of fabric can be surprisingly useful. After last year - " He stopped.

Hazel tilted her head to look into his face. "What happened last year?"

"A teacher died." Harry looked away. "I don't think I want to talk about it." His hand dropped away from her face as he stepped back. "You wanted me to go."

"Well..." Hazel trailed off. "You didn't think you could get back."

"I'll figure something out."

Before Hazel could say anything else, Harry had left.

~*~

Harry got halfway to the Gryffindor Common Room before he realized that he had absolutely no idea what he was going to do when he got there. If, as he'd always assumed, these... things he had with Hazel were dreams, then going into the Common Room wouldn't do any good. He'd either find himself in bed, asleep, or - or something bad. Considering what tended to happen in his dreams, Harry was not particularly encouraged by the thought.

He needed to wake up somehow, Harry realized. But how did he go about waking himself up from a dream that he was in?

Or was it even a dream? Every aspect of sight, sound, and touch remained clear, long past the time he would have forgotten the details of an ordinary dream.

This wasn't the time for that kind of thinking, Harry told himself sternly. He was dreaming, and he needed to wake up.

"Loud noises," he muttered. "Loud noises wake people up."

"Actually, I think it's really anything startling."

Harry spun around. Hazel stood there, holding her history book to her chest. She offered a hesitant smile, as if she were unsure of her reception after she'd shouted at him so uncharacteristically.

"Sudden cold always works for me," she continued shyly. "When we were little, my brothers woke me up by putting ice cubes against my skin."

"Sounds unpleasant." Harry gazed at her for a long moment. "You followed me."

Hazel shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't know what else to do. Besides, I didn't think studying in a dream would work. I'd probably end up thinking that the South won the Civil War and George Washington got shot in Dallas."

Harry let that pass. "So you were thinking ice, to wake up?"

"Well, if you have any ice." Hazel looked around. "I don't think there's an ice machine here, though, and I didn't think to bring any with me."

"Bring any - " Harry stopped dead. "You brought that book with you."

Hazel gave him a strange look. "Yes..."

"But we're dreaming. You fell asleep to get here, right? How could you bring that with you?" Harry could feel something on the verge of coming together in his head - but not quite. He didn't have all of the pieces yet. Something was missing...

"It was just here with me." Hazel stared at Harry. "Are you ok?"

"Yes." Harry shook his head. "No. I don't know. There's something here that I'm not seeing."

"Something bad." Hazel didn't phrase it as a question. "Do you think it's related to my friends?"

Harry half-smiled. "Only if they were having crazy dreams, too."

Hazel didn't laugh. "You think it could be connected?"

Harry's eyes snapped to hers. "You don't mean that they really have?"

"I - " Hazel stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That." Hazel turned in a rapid circle, scanning the area around her. "It sounded like - like my mother. But she's in Washington..."

"Hazel?" Harry stared at her, starting to get worried. "Hazel, no one's saying anything. Hazel?"

~*~

"Hazel?"

"Mom!" Hazel shot upright in her seat at her desk. "What are you doing home? Your message said you wouldn't be here till later."

Erica Randel smiled affectionately. "It is later, sweetie. It's one in the morning. You fell asleep studying." She peered down at the book. "The Constitution, huh? Well, I can understand the sleeping, then."

"It's not that bad," Hazel tried to protest.

"Hush." Erica tugged the book away from her daughter's hands. "I think you've studied enough for tonight. Your brothers seem to think that you're very overtired."

"My brothers..." Hazel gasped. "I never fed them!"

Erica laughed. "You talk like they're pets," she scolded, trying not to smile. "Though I admit, with the amount they eat..." She shook her head. "Well, don't worry. Perry rose to the occasion admirably."

"Really?" Hazel raised her eyebrows.

"I believe he provided cereal and potato chips." Erica shook her head at this woeful lack of nutrition. "I'm going to have to teach those two to cook a little. You've been doing too much."

"I don't mind," Hazel said quickly.

"Oh, I know you don't," Erica said. "But maybe you should." She patted Hazel's shoulder. "Your own health has to come first, darling."

"My health?" Hazel frowned. "I'm fine."

"Yes, of course you are," Erica agreed. "You're just overdoing it a little, that's all. I thought those classes you're taking might be too difficult for a junior to handle. With a little less studying, I'm sure - "

"But I don't study too much!" Hazel insisted. "It's just the opposite - I'm not studying enough!"

"Nonsense," Erica said firmly. "One can always have too much of a good thing - and that goes doubly for studying." She stood up, still holding the history book. "I think I'll just hold on to this for a few days. Till you've gotten enough rest to think straight."

"But I am thinking straight," Hazel said, realizing what her mother was driving at. "Mom, it was them - they're playing a trick on me - "

"I know, sweetie," Erica said soothingly. "I know. They told me all about it."

"Really?" Hazel asked uncertainly.

"Of course." Erica smiled. "I know your father and I haven't been around much lately, and you've been helping out wonderfully. But maybe it's time you let us play the parents, hmm? Then you can find some real friends, without having to resort to imaginary ones."

"Erin isn't imaginary!" Hazel drew sharply away from her mother. "How can you say something like that? What would Aunt Rosemary think?"

Erica's eyes flickered down, away from her daughter's, for a moment. "Please, Hazel, dear. Rest. It will be good for you. In fact, why don't you rest all day tomorrow?"

Hazel frowned suspiciously. "I have exams this week. It's the end of the quarter."

"Oh, one day won't hurt," Erica said dismissively. "You and I can go out - "

"You have to work," Hazel interrupted, getting nervous. "Besides, it's my history final tomorrow. I have to go."

Erica gave her daughter a long look. "All right, sweetheart. But no more studying tonight. Off to sleep with you!" She gave Hazel a gentle push in the direction of the bed.

As her mother headed for the door, Hazel stopped. "Mom?"

"Yes, Hazel?" Erica looked back.

Hazel bit her lip a moment. "You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"

"Oh, honey, no!" Erica hurried back to take Hazel's hands in hers. "No, of course not. You're just overtired and overworked, from that school of yours. They work you kids too hard, that's all. You just remember that you have a life outside of school, and I'm sure you'll be fine. Everything will feel better in the morning. You'll see." She kissed Hazel's cheek. "Now, bed. Goodnight, love."

"Goodnight," Hazel echoed as Erica turned out the lights before leaving.

She didn't dream of Harry again that night, which was probably a good thing. She didn't know what she'd say.

Chapter 29

Deep in your silence
Please try to hear me
I'll keep you near me
Till night passes by.

"Draco Malfoy, you are sulking."

Draco didn't have to turn around to know who had said that. "I thought we agreed to leave each other alone, Nott."

"Except in cases of emergency." A pale hand grasped Draco's shoulder and turned him to face the speaker. "This would be an emergency."

Draco found himself staring into silver eyes strangely like his own. "What do you want now, Tabitha?"

Tabitha Nott, the female Slytherin prefect for the sixth years, crossed her arms. "Blaise Zabini landed himself in the clinic. Snape sent me to get you."

Draco grimaced. "Why do I have to handle it?"

"You don't," Tabitha told him. "We both do. He's going to be out for a week, and we're in charge of seeing to it that he learns everything."

"A week?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "What did he do, jump off a tower?"

Tabitha allowed herself a small smirk. "He hit on Terry Boot."

"Boot... she's a Hufflepuff? The fat one?" Draco asked, thinking back.

"He is a Ravenclaw," Tabitha corrected briskly. "The boy with the trench coat."

Draco shuddered. "Muggle lover."

"Oh, I don't know," Tabitha said musingly. "I think he's pretty sexy. All that leather..." She shook her head. "Anyway, Boot took exception to Zabini's suggestions, and those Ravenclaws always have the nastiest curses."

"What did he do?" Draco said with mild interest. He'd always suspected Blaise had some interesting tendencies, and he was not pleased that the boy had been permitted to stay in the regular dormitories. He hoped the curse was something awful.

Tabitha shrugged indifferently. "I suppose we'll see, won't we?" She headed for the hospital wing.

Draco hurried to follow, cursing her for making him appear to tag along like a subordinate. No non-Slytherin would have noticed, but the inner workings of Slytherin House were very delicate. Slytherins seemed to stick together - and against outside forces, they did. But among themselves, the House had divided into two very hostile factions. Draco was actually starting to suspect that Dumbledore and Snape, at least, knew about it. Why else choose the two leaders of the rival groups as the two prefects?

If Draco was the understood head of the anti-Muggle Purebloods, Tabitha led the group that opposed him. Other Houses did not often acknowledge their existence, if indeed other Houses knew about them. But Muggleborns did on occasion get Sorted into Slytherin - and it was under Tabitha's leadership that they fell.

It was ironic, Draco reflected, that Tabitha Nott and he, Draco Malfoy, should each have become leaders. Or perhaps the phrase he wanted was "poetic justice." No one had ever said anything directly, but Draco was all but certain that Tabitha was his third cousin.

Lucius had had a second cousin, Cyril, who had died under... odd... circumstances. Cyril was never spoken of - ever - but from the bits and pieces Draco had gathered, he'd run off with an unsuitable woman. Draco knew that Miriam Nott, Tabitha's mother, had been disinherited by her family long before the rise of the Dark Lord, and she'd refused to support Voldemort when the rest of the Nott family had done so. For all Draco knew, Cyril and Miriam could have eloped. He'd never seen any evidence to contradict that theory. And Tabitha certainly had enough Malfoy-like characteristics to prove him right.

"Malfoy, Nott, there you are." Snape, waiting outside the hospital wing, spotted the two of them as they approached. "Zabini just regained consciousness. You can work out a tutoring schedule."

"But professor, my schedule is full already," Draco protested, his voice dangerously approaching a whine.

Snape glared, rather than deducting points, as he would have had anyone else complained. "You agreed to accept the responsibilities of a prefect. If it inconveniences you that much, you can arrange for other students from your year to be the tutors. Just be certain Zabini gets his information." He frowned at them. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on."

"Yes, professor." Draco and Tabitha went past the Slytherin House Head to go into the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey saw them immediately. "Well, it's about time," she said huffily. "If you really must disturb my patients, you might at least do it all at one time, instead of popping in and out. Zabini's back through here."

She led the way. Draco raised an eyebrow, impressed - if Blaise was being sequestered away from the rest of the patients, that curse must have been pretty bad. Or pretty embarrassing. Draco hoped it was both.

But when he caught sight of Blaise, Draco was rather disappointed. No fangs, no boils, nothing. The blonde boy was just lying on his side on the cot, scowling unhappily.

"Here you are," Madam Pomfrey said briskly. "Now, just a few minutes, mind. I have to get started on fixing poor Mr. Zabini's condition." She bustled back out to the front of the clinic.

"So, you made a move on Boot?" Draco said mockingly, as soon as the witch moved out of earshot. "Pretty stupid, if you ask me."

"Well, I didn't." Blaise sniffed. "Don't you think I have enough problems, without you making fun of me?"

"What problems?" Draco scoffed. "There's nothing - " He stopped as Tabitha began snickering. "What?"

Tabitha gestured at Blaise. "Behind him," she said, fighting to keep her face straight.

Frowning, Draco walked around Blaise to get a better look - and nearly fell over laughing. He had to give Boot credit - those Ravenclaws really knew how to pick their curses. A veritable garden of pansies was blossoming cheerily from Blaise's arse, growing through the cloth from where they'd rooted under his skin.

"Thanks, Draco," Blaise said bitterly over his shoulder. "Laugh at me in my hour of need. Really classy of you."

"Oh, don't mind him, Blaise," Tabitha said, her words oozing with saccharine sweetness. "I can do everything for you."

That got Draco under control. In the divisions of Slytherin House, Blaise fell under Draco's jurisdiction. It was an unspoken rule that you cared for your own. Draco couldn't let Tabitha watch over Blaise.

"I'm fine," Draco said coldly. "You needn't trouble yourself on my account, Nott."

"I thought it was on my account," Blaise said loudly. "Some of us have tutoring to schedule, if you don't mind."

"Fine." Draco draped himself lazily over a chair. "It had better be someone bright, considering your intellect."

"That leaves out Crabbe and Goyle, then," Tabitha said. "And poor dear Pansy - she's still struggling in that difficult Care of Magical Creatures class, isn't she?" Her smile all but dripped sincere concern. "How about Tracey Davis? She and Blaise take Illusions together, don't they?"

"I wouldn't dream of troubling her," Draco replied smoothly. "I'm sure she has her hands full, seeing to that Hufflepuff boy of hers. I think a better choice would be Asin Greengrass. If you recall, she also takes Illusions - and I believe her marks were somewhat higher than Davis's. Such a pity when one's schoolwork suffers, isn't it?"

Draco ignored Blaise's sigh of discontent. This conversation was important - the winner would be one up on the other, and that would be noted in the Slytherin Common Room when they returned. If Tabitha succeeded in installing one of her crowd as Blaise's tutor, Draco would lose face considerably - and considering the newly charged situation coming about as Voldemort sought out allies in Slytherin-friendly families, losing face could be extremely dangerous.

"Oh, Asin?" Tabitha had a look of feigned surprise. "She's in our year? Yes, I keep forgetting - such a tiny thing, isn't she? It's no wonder she can't keep up with the rest of us academically - she can barely keep up physically. No, it simply won't do for us to saddle poor Asin with Blaise. I'm sure she'd never forgive us."

"I'm sure," Draco said dryly. "And of course you can't mean to suggest Edmund Rookwood? He's barely in any of Blaise's classes."

"No, never," Tabitha said sweetly. Draco wondered what she would say now that she'd run out of intelligent sixth-year followers to suggest. "I was thinking that perhaps it might be better to request a Ravenclaw as a tutor. After all, it was one of their own that cursed poor Blaise."

"I don't want one of them near me!" Blaise yelped, ignored.

"Perhaps," Draco said cautiously. It wasn't that he didn't want to go against Tabitha, exactly - he could take her on, he could at any time - it was that it would be easier to postpone the confrontation temporarily. "Boot is out of the question, of course." He racked his brains for names of suitable Ravenclaws. "Su Li might possibly - "

"Oh, you know Su," Tabitha interrupted breezily. "Always busy writing some epic tragedy or other. No, I'd suggest Brocklehurst. She's quite bright, and she's in Illusions with Blaise."

"Not her!" Blaise objected. "She has bizarre hair!"

And Draco realized who Tabitha was talking about. "Mandy Brocklehurst." He nodded slowly, visualizing the girl some called Princess Charming. Considering that she was an expert in charms in general, cosmetic charms in particular, the label fit. This year, she'd decided that purple would be a good color for hair, after last year's orange and green.

Mandy was a strange girl, no doubt about that, but she was also affiliated with no House other than Ravenclaw. From what Draco had heard, she kept herself neutral so she could sell hair charms to the girls in all the Houses, though no one eve wore anything quite as extreme as she did. Draco nodded again. "Yes, I think Brocklehurst will do just fine."

Tabitha smiled. "Isn't that nice, then? It's all worked out. I'll let Professor Snape know. You may inform dear Mandy of her new duties, and find out what times are good for her."

"What about what's good for me?" Blaise demanded.

"You're in the hospital wing, dear," Tabitha said sweetly. "What else do you have to do?" She strode out, moving far more purposely than any girl so delicate had the right to. Draco put it down to her Malfoy heritage.

"So, Draco," Blaise said, once Tabitha was gone, "since you're going to be near Ravenclaw and all, I don't suppose you could ask Terry - "

Draco left without listening to the rest of Blaise's request. "Nutter," he grumbled, shuddering. He headed for the Astronomy Tower, where the Ravenclaw Common Room was located. That was meant to be a secret, of course, but it was pretty obvious, once you thought about it. The area around the Astronomy Towers was where all the strangest people hung out... and Ravenclaw had quite the reputation as the home of the freaks. It wasn't surprising Blaise had picked Boot as a possible romance, considering the House. If the Ravenclaws' minds were any more open, all the facts inside would tip out.

Fortunately for Draco, he caught a girl down the hallway from the Common Room. "Hey - " What was her name? "Hey, you!"

She turned around and managed to look down her nose at him, despite being shorter than him. "What do you want?"

Oh, great, Draco thought in disgust. She would be anti-Slytherin. His lip curled into his trademark sneer as he realized he addressed the seventh year Ravenclaw Seeker. "I want to talk to Brocklehurst. Fetch her."

The girl - Chang, wasn't it? - sniffed in disapproval. "Why? Do you want a hair charm?" She eyed his pale blonde hair. "That does look bleached."

"My hair is entirely natural!" Draco snapped indignantly. "This concerns tutoring."

Chang looked extremely dubious, but she went onward. After a moment, Brocklehurst came out, purple hair bright against the stone walls of the castle. "Cho says you want to be tutored?" she asked by way of greeting, leaning against the wall and stretching her feet out in front of her.

"Not me," Draco said, "Blaise Zabini. He's in the hospital wing - "

"I heard." Brocklehurst grinned. "Terry told me. Pansy-arsed git, eh? After what he tried, he had it coming."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought Ravenclaws were the most disgustingly tolerant people it was possible to come across."

"Sure we are," Brocklehurst said cheerfully. "He can be gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide if he likes, it's no concern of ours. When he grabs Terry's bum and tries to snog him in the middle of the hallway after repeated rejections, that's when we have problems."

Draco refrained from making a face at that. Blaise always had lacked Slytherin subtlety. "Well, Zabini is going to be laid up in the Infirmary for the next week," he told her. "Nott and I think that you are the ideal person to tutor him in the class work he'll be missing."

"Tutor Zabini?" Brocklehurst repeated thoughtfully. "It's a possibility. What's in it for me?"

"Excuse me?" Draco couldn't believe he'd heard that right.

"What do I get out of it?" Brocklehurst said patiently. "I'm not going to spend my time on a dolt from another House for my health. What have you got that I want?"

Draco considered it. It had never occurred to him that a Ravenclaw would have no reason to obey his orders without question. His own Housemates always jumped to do his bidding. What could he offer Mandy Brocklehurst to entice her to do the same? Not a pre-written essay or the answers to her homework, not for a Ravenclaw...

"Tell you what," Brocklehurst interrupted his thoughts, "you can buy me some chocolate from Honeydukes. Straight chocolate, mind, no spells attached. I'm partial to the dark flavors, with caramel in them. I'll charge you four bars an hour. Split the cost with Nott. The pair of you can afford it."

"Four's too many," Draco scoffed. "One an hour."

"Two," Brocklehurst countered. "Three for time on Care of Magical Creatures, since I'm not in that class. And if he injures me, we can renegotiate for some bonuses in licorice."

Draco nodded solemnly. "Done. You'll get your pay next Hogsmeade weekend."

"Good." Brocklehurst smiled, pleased with the transaction. "I'm free every evening except Thursday from seven to ten. Thursday I'll come during lunch. Arrange for Zabini to have his books, quill, and parchment with him, and I'll bring his work."

"He'll have them," Draco told her. "And he'll be expecting you."

Brocklehurst took her leave then, walking back down to the entrance to her Common Room. Draco headed back towards Slytherin, to tell Tabitha it was settled. On the way, he ran into one of the younger Slytherins, Baddock.

"Hi, Draco," the boy said, breathing hard. He'd literally been running. "I've been looking for you."

"And you wanted...?" Draco raised a haughty eyebrow.

"Pansy Parkinson sent me," Baddock said, catching his breath. "She says you've got an owl, and you'd better go pick the message up from the owlery now if you don't want to get it during breakfast tomorrow."

Draco nodded curtly. "Tell her you've let me know." He turned and went in the opposite direction, thinking hard. An owl - that meant his parents. His grandmother preferred ravens, and his Aunt Galiana was spending a year in Japan - too far away for an owl. If Pansy thought he wouldn't want it at breakfast, that meant it was from his father, and was probably not good news. Maybe it was about those Americans. Dumbledore and the American headmistress had arranged some sort of meeting between the two groups for this week. Draco wasn't sure exactly when.

I should probably try to find out, he decided. That would tell him how long he had to come up with a good excuse for why he wouldn't have a partner from America, without revealing that he'd been talking to a Muggle. Maybe I could claim I'd been faking conversations? he mused. That might sound believable. The whole school knows how much against this stupid class I am. He'd have to perfect that idea a bit more, but it was certainly an option.

He reached the owlery, and two birds swooped over to him at once. Srosh, his own owl, landed on Draco's shoulder, but the more sedate eagle owl chose a perch facing the boy. Draco nodded respectfully to Muut, the Malfoy family owl, as he removed the roll of parchment from the owl's leg.

He scanned the message. It was from his father, as he'd expected. He read,

Draco -

You will be on your best behavior for the remainder of the school year. Important events are taking place. Stay out of the Witness's way, and be grateful you were not shipped off to Durmstrang like the Elliot girl. Be sure to impress the Witness if she communicates with you - through her opportunities lie open.

- Lucius

Draco frowned down at the letter. It was typical of Lucius - issue only instructions, neglecting to mention the vital point.

"Who the hell is the Witness?"

Chapter 30

I will find the answer
I'll never desert you
I promise you this
Till the day that I die.

"So where exactly are you driving?" Autumn glanced at Hazel's hands, clenched so tightly around the steering wheel that her knuckles were white. "You do actually know how to drive, right?"

"Yes," Hazel said tersely in her intense concentration, her eyes never flickering from the road. "We're going to look for Erin and Lianne."

"I gathered that," Autumn said. "Are you sure you don't want to do this after school? Maybe on bikes?"

"I am a perfectly competent driver," Hazel told the younger girl. "I'm just - you know, nervous. I've never cut school before."

"Like I said, will half a day make that much of a difference?" Autumn asked reasonably.

"Yes." Hazel took a deep breath. "Look, Autumn - I have to know. Either they really disappeared, and they're in a lot of trouble somewhere waiting for us, or else - "

"We aren't crazy!" Autumn said fiercely. "How many times will you make me say it?"

"I want to believe that," Hazel said. "I really do. But I don't know if I can anymore." She turned down a final street, approaching a several story parking garage. "We're here."

"The airport?" Autumn gaped out the window at the building across from the garage. "You've got to be kidding."

"No, I thought about this," Hazel said earnestly, searching for a place to park. "We just have to ask if either girl came through at any time. Our excuse will have to be that they ran away."

"You don't know that," Autumn objected. "They were probably kidnapped!"

Hazel shuddered. "That seems likely," she admitted. "But that's a lot more serious than a pair of runaways. The police would have to get involved, and with our current record, they wouldn't believe us either. We have to find something to prove the girls existed, and this is the best place I could think of to look." She pulled into an open space.

"Fine." Autumn sighed, unfastening her seatbelt. "Maybe there's an information desk we can ask."

As it turned out, there was. Unfortunately, the harassed young man behind it was unable to be particularly helpful.

"Look, I'm really sorry about your friends," he said, "but unless you can give me a flight number, or at least a date and destination, I can't do much. Why don't you try the bus station? After all, there aren't many teenagers with enough money to buy plane tickets."

"Thanks anyway," Hazel said, sighing.

"Can we still look around?" Autumn wanted to know.

"I don't see why not," the man said, frowning. "I'm not sure what you think you'll find, but it can't hurt anything."

"Good. So," Autumn said to Hazel as they walked deeper into the airport, "this was your brilliant plan. Where do you suggest we look?"

"I thought we could ask the security guards," Hazel said. "Maybe they'll let us look at the security camera tapes."

"Because of course airport security regularly lets teenage girls see those," Autumn remarked scathingly. Hazel wilted. "No, don't - look, I didn't mean it like that. It's the best idea we've got, isn't it?"

"I guess." The slight enthusiasm for the search that Hazel had had was gone. "Why don't we head for the security check?"

"That's a great idea!" Autumn said brightly, trying to cheer Hazel up. "Don't worry - I'm sure we'll find them in no time."

Hazel nodded, though her depression was not lessened. "Should we find a map, then?"

"Got some." Autumn held two pamphlets up. "I grabbed them from the information desk. This place is huge."

"Wonderful." Hazel took one and unfolded it. "We'll never get through this whole place on our own."

"We could split up," Autumn said. "Why don't we meet at the food court in an hour?"

"Where in the food court?" Hazel asked anxiously. "We've already lost two people - neither of us should risk going missing, as well."

"Good point." Autumn studied the map. "How about the bookshop? It's right across from the food court, and it probably won't be as crowded."

"Ok." Hazel glanced at her watch. "We'll meet at the bookshop by the food court at 9:30."

"See you then." Autumn headed in one direction, leaving Hazel the other way. She inched through the crowds of people, apologizing profusely whenever she bumped into someone. No one took any notice of her. Eventually, she reached a security check.

"Excuse me, sir," Hazel tried to say to the security guard. It came out in a whisper. She swallowed, and tried again. "Excuse me."

He looked up at her. "You have to go through the line, miss," he told her, not unkindly. "Right there, through those gates."

"No, sir, I wanted to ask you something." Hazel stared at the ground, wishing she and Autumn were still together. She hated doing this alone. But what about Erin? she reminded herself. Erin's probably just as alone as me - maybe more. Steeling herself, she continued. "My cousin and her friend ran away, and we think they might've come here. To get on a plane." She glanced up hesitantly, to see the guard's reaction.

He looked concerned. "That's not too good," he said. "When did they come through?"

"My cousin yesterday, her friend a few days before," Hazel answered.

The guard's eyebrows drew together. "And you're only looking for them now?"

"No one realized they were gone," Hazel said, thinking unhappily about the truth of that statement. "We aren't even sure they took a plane. But I was hoping maybe you might remember if you saw them?"

The guard frowned. "Well, I'd have to know what they looked like, first," he pointed out logically. "Do you have a picture?"

Hazel hesitated. She and Autumn had both scoured their houses for photos, but every picture containing either Erin or Lianne had somehow disappeared. "I didn't think to bring one," she said finally.

"Then come back when you've got one," the guard told her. "I'll be glad to help you. And bring your parents." A thought struck him, that Hazel had been hoping wouldn't occur to him till she'd gone. "Say - shouldn't you be in school?"

"My cousin's more important, sir," Hazel said, as politely as she could. The guard didn't look convinced. "I-I should go now, sir," she said quickly. "My friend - my family, too - will be worried." She turned and fled.

~*~

Autumn wandered aimlessly around the airport, not entirely sure what it was she was supposed to be doing. She'd realized as soon as she'd addressed a security guard that this method of searching would be useless without some sort of picture of Erin and Lianne. She'd tried drawing the girls, but there was a reason she didn't take art classes.

Maybe if I asked about girls who had come through the airport unaccompanied? she wondered. But no - it was very unlikely that the girls had been alone. She doubted more and more that her friends had left of their own free will, which would mean that another person would have gone with each of them, making that method of searching pointless.

Autumn sighed. "This is hopeless," she muttered. She didn't want to voice that opinion around Hazel, lest the other girl panic as she kept threatening to do, but it was what she was starting to think. There just didn't seem to be any way of getting in contact with her friends. She had no idea where they could be, who could have persuaded - or forced - them to leave. Or why everyone she met refused to acknowledge the girls' existence.

Life was getting seriously frightening from where Autumn was standing. She had no control over what was going on - and she was always in control. She didn't like not knowing what was happening, or why nothing made sense. She depended on her logic above all else, and she prided herself on the reasoning skills that so many other people seemed to lack. But in this situation, none of it could help her. There was no logic to the events that were now controlling her life.

No, Autumn told herself resolutely. That's not true. There is logic somewhere - there has to be. I just can't see it.

She clung to that thought, taking comfort in the idea that it did make sense, somehow. It was easier to believe that she just didn't understand, than it was to think that life might truly be a chaotic mess with neither rhyme nor reason.

Autumn caught sight of a clock as she passed the list of arriving and departing flights. It was 9:20. She should probably start heading back towards the bookshop. She didn't want Hazel to start worrying that she, too, had gone missing.

As she reversed directions, her cell phone rang. Autumn grimaced as she took it out of her pocket, figuring it was the school administrators, demanding to know why she wasn't in class where she was supposed to be. "Hello?"

"Bloody hell. Don't you ever give up?"

Autumn started, then glared at the phone. "Don't you? And here I thought you were done talking to me."

"I would be, if you'd stop calling me."

"You started it," Autumn said sullenly. "You called me first. Can't you leave me alone for a while? I have somewhere to be."

"School, I should hope," he said virtuously. "Though with your standards, I suppose - "

Autumn clicked the phone off. She then went on to ensure he couldn't pester her again by shutting down the phone's power. She frowned briefly - she didn't remember turning it on. She shrugged, figuring she must have done it on reflex.

"Oh, there you are!"

"Huh?" Autumn froze as a hand closed on her arm. She turned around to see an elderly lady, smiling cheerfully. "What do you want?"

"It's time to leave, silly," the lady scolded gently. "You shouldn't wander off like that - you might have gotten left behind."

Autumn stared at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We're leaving in just a few minutes, dear," the lady explained, as if it should have been obvious. "And I know you wouldn't want to miss this trip." She tugged firmly on Autumn's arm, trying to lead her away. "Come on, sweetie, your friends are waiting for you."

Autumn paled. "My friends? You know where they are?"

"Of course." The woman smiled brightly. "I suppose you were looking for them?"

"Take me to them!" Autumn ordered urgently. "Now!"

"Easy there, darling!" The lady had the audacity to laugh. Autumn couldn't believe how calm she was being. "Come along. You'll see them soon."

The old lady couldn't lead fast enough for Autumn, smiling indulgently as the girl tried to rush ahead. Autumn was furious at the woman's callousness. How dare she ridicule Lianne and Erin's plight?

"Here we are," the lady said merrily, opening a door marked "authorized personnel only." "I love that sign - such a good joke, don't you think? Considering what we know is really up here."

Autumn didn't answer, hurrying past the woman and up the staircase that was immediately through the door. But when she reached the room at the top, she stopped so sharply that the lady bumped into her.

"Whoops!" The lady giggled, as if it were all great fun. "Well, don't just stand there, silly! Join a group."

Autumn stared around the room. The groups the lady referred to were gathered in circles, each person reaching in to the center of the circle with one hand. Most of the people were teenagers or younger, though there was at least one adult in every group. How many groups there were, Autumn had no idea. There were so many people in each that each group blocked out the others. She could only see five from where she was standing, but the noise level in the room bespoke many more.

I'm starting to get a really bad feeling about this, Autumn thought. She would have edged back towards the door, as the stupidity of what she had done hit her, but the lady had taken her arm again and was steering her over to the nearest group.

"Make room now," the woman instructed, as the teenagers squeezed together. "We don't want anyone left behind."

"But - " Autumn tried to begin.

"Nope, no more trips outside," the lady chided. "We almost missed you the first time. Just think what you parents would say if you got lost here. Now be a good girl and grab hold of the ring, ok?"

Autumn looked in the center of the circle, where the lady pointed. The other people in the group were all hanging on to a large plastic hula-hoop with one hand. "But I'm - "

"Nervous?" the lady interrupted. "Well, only natural. Here." She seized Autumn's hand and fastened it to the hoop beside her own. "I'll stick right by you. Don't worry." She glanced up at a clock on the wall. "Oh, look - here we go!"

The people in the room had started a countdown, though Autumn had no idea what they were counting to. They were at fifteen - ten - five, four, three... two... one...

Something snatched Autumn, dragging her forward. She screamed, but the sound was left behind. It was horrible, as if she were being forced to move faster than the human body was ever meant to go. She'd thought she'd been scared at other points in her life, but those were nothing compared to this. She was terrified.

At last, the trip came to an end. Autumn crumpled to the floor, practically in hysterical tears. Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"Are you all right, dear?" the old lady asked worriedly. "Haven't you ever used a Portkey before?"

"A what?" Autumn looked up at the lady in disbelief - and in the process, noticed her new surroundings. "Where am I?"