Broken Fate

Chapter Eight ~ Confrontations

On Friday evening, Shay spent two hours with Will, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall in the Transfiguration classroom. Hermione had arrived with a bag packed full of books and notes. It was decided that she would meet with them on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons for tutoring.

When he finally escaped from the Transfiguration classroom, Shay headed for the kitchens. He had astronomy at midnight tonight with all of the other Sixth Years in the school, and he still had to bring Jamie and Molly food. Will had given him a small bag during their Care of Magical Creatures class that morning, and Shay, not trusting to leave anything important in his dormitory, had lugged it around all day in his book bag.

The kitchens were right where Will said they would be, and the house-elves practically threw themselves at his feet to get him what he wanted. Once he had a bag of food, he stepped back out into the hall and opened the bag Will had given him. He pulled out the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map. He put on the cloak and activated the Map.

It wasn't hard to get through the passage to the Shrieking Shack. Will had warned him of Jamie's alarm-spell, so he took off the cloak at the end of the passage. As he pushed the plank of wood open, he called, "Hey! Jamie!"

There was a crack, and Jamie Apparated in front of him, her wand held at ready. "Oh, good. More food." She tucked her wand back into her pocket and took the bag of food from him, then turned and began to walk out of the room.

Shay rolled his eyes and followed. "'How are you doing, Shay? How has school been? I heard you're in Slytherin; have you killed Draco Malfoy yet, Shay?'" he said in a mock girl's voice.

Jamie glanced over her shoulder at him. "I imagine you haven't killed him, or I'm sure you wouldn't be here," she said mildly. "You'd be in Azkaban."

Shay snorted. "Yeah, but I wouldn't be there for long. Azkaban isn't a safe place to keep convicts, remember? The dementors have revolted."

Jamie entered a bedroom on the first floor. Molly was asleep on a mattress. Jamie quietly set the bag of food on the floor, then motioned Shay to follow her out of the room. "So how has school been?" she finally asked, turning in the hallway to face Shay.

Shay shrugged. "Different." He shook his head. "And you should see Snape..." He proceeded to tell her about the Potions class the day before.

Jamie looked at him sharply. "What about your father?"

"What about him?" Shay asked uncomfortably.

"Have you had any interaction with him, besides watching him being tormented by Snape?"

"Not much. He was in the same compartment on the train on our way to Hogwarts, but I haven't really talked to him, if that's what you mean."

"Why not?" Jamie asked.

Shay's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean, why not? Because he's not in my House, for one thing. I haven't seen him all that much."

Jamie's eyes narrowed. "That's not why."

Shay was growing more uneasy with the subject, and especially with the way Jamie was looking at him. She had the uncanny ability to always look straight through something to the very heart of it, and this was not something he wanted her digging into. "Look--"

Jamie cut him off. "You might be in Slytherin and he in Gryffindor, Shay, but he's your father. If I was there, I'd be doing everything I could to get to know my parents. This might be the only chance you'll ever have to get to know him a little bit. Why are you scared of it?"

And there it was. She had hit the nail on the head. "I'm not scared!" he snarled.

Jamie snorted. She might be perceptive about things, but subtlety was not one of her strong points, and sometimes she didn't know when she went too far. "You might be able to pull that on someone else, but I've known you my whole life, Seamus Longbottom. You are scared. So don't pull that 'I'm not scared of anything' load of nonsense on me. You're scared, and you're angry at your father. You always have been."

"Shut up!"

"You feel betrayed, and you feel like he betrayed your moth--"

It was an instinctive reaction, and one that Shay didn't realize he was having until after it was done. He whipped his wand out of his robes and pointed it at Jamie. "Silencio!"

He and Jamie both froze. A look of utter shock was on Jamie's face. Shay's anger drained away as he realized just what he had done. He quickly performed the counterspell. "Jamie, I didn't--"

Jamie held up her hand. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and shook her head. She turned her back on him and began to walk toward the bedroom. "I think you should leave now," she told him. He wasn't sure what emotion he heard in her voice, but it made him feel even worse.

"Jamie--"

"Leave, Shay."

Annoyance crept back into him. He wasn't the one who had started this. If she had just left well enough alone, none of this would have happened. "Fine," he snapped. He turned and stormed back to the passage entrance. If he had bothered to stop and look back, he would have seen Jamie lean against the wall and burst into tears. But without a backwards glance, he yanked on the invisibility cloak and left.

**

Shay was in no mood to go to his dormitory and risk running into Draco or his lackeys. He wasn't sure how he ended up in the library, but it seemed as good a place as any to be somewhere quiet, where he wouldn't be bothered. He sat at a table in the corner of the library and buried his head in his arms. The trip across Hogwarts grounds and through the castle had cooled his blood, and while he was still irritated, he was no longer angry. He was struggling against feeling remorseful--it wasn't an emotion he was accustomed to feeling, and he didn't like it at all.

He was afforded a distraction when a girl's voice said, "Hi, there. You're one of the new transfer students, aren't you?"

Shay looked up to see a pretty blond girl smiling at him. He blinked, not quite sure why she was smiling at him the way she was. He didn't feel like talking, but the girl sat down on a chair across from him. "I'm Rowan," she said, holding out her hand.

"Shay," Shay said shortly, quickly shaking her hand.

"You're in Slytherin, right?"

"Yes." What does she want?

"I'm a Ravenclaw. You're in my Herbology class."

"Oh." And he cared because...?

Rowan cocked her head. "You're not very talkative, are you?" She leaned forward on the table, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

It was then that Shay finally realized. She's flirting with me! All he could do was blink at her again. He didn't have much experience with girls his age--actually, the only girl his age he really knew was Jamie.

Which made him think, yet again, of how he had just cursed her, and it was the last thing he wanted to think about.

Well, Shay, you might not know much about girls...but there's no time like the present for learning, is there? he told himself. He smiled at Rowan. "I can be talkative when I want to be." He stood to his feet. "Do you know anything interesting to do in the castle while we wait for Astronomy class?"

Rowan grinned brilliantly. "Why, yes. I can think of a few things."

~*~

At midnight, all of the Sixth Years--Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor--gathered on top of the Astronomy tower. It was the first time the four Houses had ever had a class together. "I wonder if Dumbledore decided that we should have a class together because he's trying to get us to work with each other," Hermione mused to Harry and Ron. They were holding a whispered conversation and didn't seem to be paying attention. "Harry? Ron?"

Both of them looked over at her with mildly surprised expressions on their faces, as if they had just realized she was there and talking to them. "Sorry, Hermione. Were you saying something?" Harry asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. No doubt they were talking about Quidditch again. It seemed like it was all they had been talking about since the tryouts. She shook her head, and they went back to whispering. "No, of course I wasn't talking," she said conversationally to the night air. "Why would I be talking? Just because sometimes it's nice to have a conversation with my two best friends..." She stared pointedly at Ron and Harry. It took a moment before first Harry, then Ron, looked at her again.

"Did you say something, Hermione?" Ron wondered.

Hermione put her head in her hands and groaned. "Boys," she muttered.

Harry and Ron exchanged bemused glances, shrugged, and went back to their conversation. Hermione sighed and gave up on talking to them. Instead she looked around at the Sixth Years trickling onto the top of the tower. She almost missed Will Warren standing alone in the shadows. Poor guy, she thought. She felt sorry for him. She also felt some sort of responsibility toward making sure he fit in. She was a prefect; she was supposed to watch out for the other students. Will was very quiet and kept to himself--at meals, at classes, and anywhere else Hermione saw him. She couldn't imagine suddenly being thrown into a new school. Here, the students had had six years to get to live with each other and know each other. Will didn't have that advantage.

During the Transfiguration lesson that she had helped with that evening, it had been evident that Will and Shay were close friends, despite the fact that one was a Gryffindor and one a Slytherin. The rest of us could probably stand to learn something from them, she mused ruefully. Of course, even during the lesson, Will had been quiet and watchful. It had been obvious that he was more interested in learning than Shay was, though--the Slytherin was plainly disinterested in advancing his Transfiguration, but Hermione had done her best to help Professor McGonagall.

And speaking of Shay... He emerged onto the Astronomy tower with a blond Ravenclaw that Hermione thought was named Rowan. She didn't know much about the girl, but recognized her as being one of the giggly boy-chasers in the school. Hermione found girls like that silly and superficial. Looks like she has her hooks dug into Shay, she thought disgustedly.

Hermione was just about to go tell Will he was welcome to join them when Neville Longbottom did it instead. The two boys talked for a moment, and then Will nodded. Neville dragged his telescope over by Will's. Hermione smiled and turned back to Harry and Ron. If anyone could help Will not feel like an outsider, it was Neville.

~*~

The weekend passed quickly for Will. He wasn't going to bring more food to Jamie and Molly until Tuesday evening; he and Shay had decided when they first arrived at Hogwarts that Tuesdays and Fridays would be the food delivery days. He hoped Jamie and Molly were doing all right. He had spoken with Shay on Saturday morning and asked how they were. An odd, closed look came to Shay's face at the mention of Jamie, but he said, "They were fine, Will. Molly was sleeping."

Will had the feeling there was something Shay wasn't saying, but he didn't ask him about it. If Shay thought it was important he know, he would tell him.

Monday and Tuesday passed in a blur of classes, homework, and tutoring from Hermione. Tuesday evening, he brought another bundle of food through the tunnel under the Whomping Willow. He stayed for a while and talked with Jamie, while Molly sat in his lap. Jamie seemed a bit distracted, but she hid it well. He wouldn't have ever noticed if he didn't know her as well as he did. When he finally stood up to go, he said, "Shay will be back on Friday."

Jamie was quiet for a moment, then nodded shortly. "Great."

Will raised his eyebrows. "You don't sound very enthusiastic." He cocked his head to the side. "Did you two have another fight?" It would explain Shay's expression when Will had asked about Jamie the other day, and Jamie's distraction now.

"I don't want to talk about it, Will," Jamie said abruptly.

Will sighed to himself. They'll work it out. They always do. "All right. Well, I'll see you two next Tuesday."

The rest of the week passed just as quickly as the beginning of it. He didn't get to talk to Shay very much, but it didn't matter; the Gourl still had not been returned to Ron--Will wondered what was taking Professor McGonagall so long--and all they could do was bide their time. It was odd--while Will felt his life was speeding along because of how busy he was, it seemed that their quest to change the future was at a temporary halt.

He did notice that lately when he saw Shay, half the time there was a blond girl hanging around him. It didn't surprise him that girls were taking an interest in Shay--he even heard different whispered conversations about him in the classes the Gryffindor and Slytherins shared. One particular one between Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had been something along the lines of "oooh, he's so gorgeous! Too bad he's a Slytherin..."

He thought about approaching Shay about it, telling him it was dangerous to have romantic involvement--after all, what if one of them got romantically entangled with someone that, in the future, had married someone else? They were supposed to be guarding themselves and not letting people know about the future...

Then it struck him, deeply, that it didn't matter. As he had pointed out to Shay, this was a new timeline. If they succeeded in their plans this year, the future would be completely changed anyway. They had come back to this time knowing that they were going to be stuck here for the rest of their lives. How were they supposed to live out the entirety of their lives without getting involved with anyone?

But what if one of us ended up marrying someone who was supposed to marry someone else and give birth to a child who was supposed to be a great Auror or create a counter for the Killing Curse, or...

Will stopped his train of thoughts and rubbed his head. Time paradoxes were so confusing. He couldn't even guarantee that he would be born in this new timeline. If they changed things this year, who knew what would happen? He might be born, as might Jamie...almost certainly, Shay wouldn't be born.

Are we ever going to be able to live normal lives?

As it turned out, though, he needn't have worried about Shay's relationship with the blond girl. On Friday afternoon, when classes were finished, Shay approached Will and said, "I don't know what to do, mate."

Will raised his eyebrows. "About what?"

"Rowan!"

"The blond girl who's been hanging around you?" Will wondered.

"Yes! She's driving me crazy! She won't leave me alone, and she keeps popping up everywhere! I swear, one of these days she's going to suddenly appear while I'm in the loo!"

Will held back a laugh. "What do you want me to do? I've never been in a situation like that."

"Neither have I!" Shay's eyes focused behind Will. "Oh, damn. Here she comes again. Tell her I wasn't feeling well and went back to my dormitory. She's a Ravenclaw, so I know I won't see her there!" Without another word, Shay spun around and took off, just as Rowan stopped beside Will.

"Where'd he go?" she asked, sounding disappointed.

"He...er...wasn't feeling well. He went back to his dormitory," Will lied.

"Oh." Rowan sighed and walked away.

Will was very glad he wasn't in Shay's position. I'm sure girls are great, but I prefer not to deal with the complications of any kind of relationship until this mess we came back to fix is sorted out, he thought.

~*~

Shay might have been able to escape from Rowan in his dormitory, but it certainly wasn't a refuge--not when Draco Malfoy was seated on his four-poster bed, scribbling out a letter. He looked up when Shay came in. He nodded at Shay, then continued writing his letter.

Good, don't talk to me, Shay thought, flinging himself on his bed. He had suffered a very, very long week. At first he had welcomed the distraction of Rowan. It was kind of nice not to think about anything for a change, and to have girls paying attention to him. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. He was sure he wouldn't have found Rowan annoying if it hadn't been for Jamie. All week, the thought of cursing her, and the fight they had had, kept popping into his head. It made everything he did during the week unpleasant. He fought it--he didn't want to admit he had been wrong, and tried to convince himself that he needn't feel guilty.

The truth was, cursing her had been the absolute worst offense possible. He, Will, and Jamie had spent their entire lives using their wands to defend each other, to fight evil. To purposely use his wand against Jamie was the most hurtful thing he could have done.

No matter how hardened his conscious had become about some things, Jamie wasn't one of them. He dreaded seeing her later that evening. He knew that by all rights, he should have gone back to the Shrieking Shack earlier in the week and apologized, but he hadn't. This whole bloody thing reeks, he thought crossly.

He was even more irritated when Draco broke his silence and spoke to him. He had done the best he could to find a balance in befriending and avoiding Draco Malfoy. He tried to get to know him a little bit, he really did. He told himself that the future hadn't happened yet, and maybe he could do something to help Draco change for the better. No matter what he told himself, though, he couldn't quell the anger and hatred that choked him every time he looked at Malfoy's pale face.

Still, even without becoming Draco's best friend, he had learned a lot from listening to the Slytherins, and especially listening to Draco's prattling to Crabbe and Goyle as they went to sleep at night.

"Did you see this article in the Daily Prophet?" Draco suddenly asked.

Shay didn't even look at him. "What article?"

"Check it out." Draco tossed the newspaper onto Shay's bed.

Shay considered setting the paper on fire, but decided it would probably be wiser not to. He picked it up and looked down at the short article on the third page of the Daily Prophet.

New Muggle Protection Act Formed

Arthur Weasley, head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office at

the Ministry of Magic, met with Minister of Magic

Cornelius Fudge yesterday afternoon. With the threat of

You-Know-Who's return, greater precautions have been

taken in the defense of the wizarding world. What about

the Muggles, though?

After a great deal of deliberation, it was decided that a

new Muggle Protection Act would be formed. The Minister

has set up a new branch of Aurors to deal specifically with

Muggle protection. This branch of Aurors, known as the M.P.A.

(Muggle Protection Aurors) are working on setting up safe

houses, so that in the event of an emergency, they can quickly

move Muggles into protected areas.

"Can you believe it?" Draco asked. "The Ministry is actually being idiotic enough to pull Aurors off of protecting wizards to protect Muggles."

Shay gritted his teeth. Don't say anything stupid, don't say anything stupid. "Yeah." That was safe.

"My father always said Fudge is an old fool. And of course it would be Arthur Weasley that would come up with such a stupid Protection Act. Protection? The Muggles don't need protection--the Dark Lord would be doing the world a favor if he killed them all."

Shay's jaw was locked into place in his effort to keep quiet. Draco was always saying things like this--how horrible Muggles were, how fortunate it was that they were in Slytherin with all the rest of the purebloods.

"I say he can take them all--Muggles and Mudbloods alike. And any pureblood wizard who would stand against the Dark Lord is a fool, and deserve whatever they get," Draco said, with some satisfaction.

At those final words, Shay snapped. His mother had been a pureblood, and she had stood against Voldemort--and she certainly hadn't been a fool. He whipped his wand out of his robes. BANG! Ropes appeared out of thin air and twisted around Malfoy. Shay watched with intense gratification as he crashed to the ground, a surprised look on his face. Shay stepped over to him and looked down at him. "Listen here, you sniveling, self-centered, arrogant little prick," he said, his voice clear and concise. "Just because you are the evil spawn of a snake, it doesn't mean that every Slytherin thinks the way you do. And I, for one, don't. So you keep your filthy mouth off of things you don't understand." His fingers itched to wave his wand and curse Draco more, to really make him regret what he had said, but he didn't. Instead, he turned and headed out of the dormitory.

"You--you--" Draco didn't seem to be able to quite figure out what to say. "You'll regret this!"

Shay stopped at the door and glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, I don't think so." He smirked and shut the door behind him.

~*~

When Shay stepped through the entrance to the Shrieking Shack, Jamie again Apparated in front of him. Her jaw tightened when she saw him, and she didn't say anything--she simply held out her hand for the bag of food he carried. He didn't relinquish it. "We need to talk," he said abruptly.

His confrontation with Draco had given him a lot to think about. He had realized, very strongly, who his real enemies were. Treating Jamie, one of his two best friends--whether they always got along or not--as an enemy was just wrong, and he couldn't let his pride get in the way of making their friendship right.

Jamie's hand dropped to her side. "About what?" she asked tightly.

There was no easy way to say it, but just to come out with it. "I'm...sorry." Strangely enough, now that the words were out, a heavy burden seemed to have lifted from Shay's shoulders. "I'm sorry I used my wand against you, Jamie. I honestly didn't mean to."

Jamie swallowed, and something that Shay thought looked suspiciously like tears shone in her eyes. "It's all right. And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have pushed about your father." She looked down at the ground and let out a deep breath, and when she looked back up at Shay, her eyes were clear. "So...um...want to come in and tell me about your week?"

Shay offered her a rare grin. "I'd love to. And say, there's some extra chocolate pie in there...it'll go bad if it doesn't get eaten tonight..."

"Shay! You already ate dinner!"

"Yeah, but it was a long time ago..."

"Honestly! Don't you ever think about anything except your stomach?"