Broken Fate

Chapter Twenty ~ In the Forest

Shay ate a late supper in the Great Hall the Thursday before Christmas break was to start. The Hogwarts Coaltion had called an emergency session that afternoon, and it had gone on longer than expected. Events in Slytherin House had come to a cataclysmic head the night before when Draco and a group of his friends had completely destroyed the third years' dormitories--everything the third years' owned was burned to an irreparable crisp. The guess was that the third years had been singled out because almost every single one of them had joined the Hogwarts Coalition.

Of course, no one could prove that it was Draco and his friends. Snape had been livid, and declared the next person who caused trouble would be expelled immediately. He had given everyone--except the third years--a week of detentions, which many thought unfair. He had then installed Reciprocated Mirrors in the common room and each of the dormitories. The students were now forced to dress in the cover of the bathrooms or the behind the curtains of their four posters. Slytherin House was a disaster zone, and the other members of the Coalition were doing all they could to lend support to the Society of Slytherins.

Shay glanced over at Gryffindor table. It was mostly empty, but Ginny was having an animated conversation with Neville. He watched for a moment. Everytime he saw her smile, he was reminded quite forcibly of Jamie, and even now, the way Ginny was waving her arms around to emphasize what she was saying made him think of her.

Shay was looking forward to Christmas break. He needed to get away from the tension in his House, and it would be good to see Jamie. He was wondering how the Weasleys would react to seeing him--especially Bill Weasley, who spent much time with Fleur Delacour. Would he see the resemblance?

Over at the Gryffindor table, Neville suddenly frowned and said something to Ginny. Ginny whirled and looked toward the door, and Shay followed her gaze. What he saw made his heart skip a beat.

Three people had just walked into the Great Hall--Fleur Delacour, a tall man with a red ponytail who could only be Bill Weasley, and...and Gabrielle. Shay stared at the slight blond girl in utter disbelief. What's going on? What is she doing here? He felt frozen to his seat. He tore his eyes off of Gabrielle, and they landed on Neville. He realized with a very odd feeling that this was the first time in his entire life that he had ever seen his parents in the same room.

Ginny ran to meet her brother, and they had a brief conversation. Then Ginny scanned the Great Hall, and her eyes locked on Shay. She hurried over to him. "Shay," she said in a low voice, "Jamie's missing."

Those two words shoved everything else out of his mind--he would deal with seeing Gabrielle later. "What?" he said sharply. "What do you mean, missing?"

"I don't know the details, but Bill said he needs to talk to Dumbledore. I told him Dumbledore's probably in his office," Ginny said.

"I'm coming with you," Shay said immediately. He followed Ginny over to Bill, Fleur, and Gabrielle. All three of them stared at him.

"This is Shay. Jamie's friend," Ginny said, giving Bill a pointed look.

Bill's eyes widened, and he looked from Shay to the Delacours and back. Well, I guess that answers my question about whether he'd recognize my resemblance to the Delacours, Shay thought grimly. "What happened to Jamie?" he asked, pointedly avoiding looking at Gabrielle.

"I...don't know," Bill admitted. "I'll explain once we find Dumbledore."

Shay gritted his teeth, but followed alongside Ginny as they headed out of the entrance hall. It didn't take long to reach the stone gargoyle leading to Dumbledore's office. Shay had never been here, but Will had told him about it.

"I don't know the password," Ginny said.

"Neither do I, but knowing Dumbledore, it has to be something sweet." Bill faced the gargoyle and began naming sweets. When he reached 'sugar quill,' the gargoyle jumped aside, revealing a moving staircase. The five of them went upstairs, and Bill knocked on Dumbledore's office.

The door swung open, revealing Dumbledore standing beside his fire. He turned, frowning when he saw who was at his door, obviously realizing something urgent was going on. "Please, come in." He waited until they were inside, and then conjured five chairs out of the air. He sat behind his desk and waited for the group to sit down. Shay remained standing, arms crossed tightly against his chest.

Bill didn't waste anytime. "Dumbledore, Death Eaters might have Jamie."

"What?" Shay's head snapped to Bill, and the worry over hearing the words 'Jamie's missing' changed into a hard knot of fear in his stomach.

Dumbledore leaned forward. "What happened?"

It was Fleur who spoke. "We were attacked," she said, glancing down at Gabrielle. "We were walking 'ome from Diagon Alley, and we were attacked by Deaz Eaters."

"Seven of zem," Gabrielle piped up. Shay spared her a glance and saw that she was pale-faced and looked frightened, but she had a stubborn set to her jaw. "I zought zey were going to kill us," she whispered.

"What was Jamie doing in Diagon Alley?" Shay demanded.

Ginny was obviously wondering the same thing. "She's supposed to be at the Burrow!"

"She came to Diagon Alley with me," Bill said tiredly. "In disguise, of course."

Shay's jaw knotted, and he leaned forward slightly toward Bill. "Why would you have taken her out of the Burrow, in disguise or not?" Didn't they know anything? Didn't they realize how dangerous it was, especially for Jamie? What if something happened to her disguise? What if--

"He did so with my permission," Dumbledore said quietly. "I thought a day out would be good for her." He sighed, and tapped his long fingers on his desk. "I certainly didn't anticipate this."

Shay's temper flared up, and it was all he could do to keep himself from exploding at the headmaster. Something had happened to Jamie, and all he could say was that he hadn't anticipated it? In a deathly low voice, Shay bit out, "You didn't anticipate this?"

Bill quickly intervened, keeping Shay from saying anything else. "I think Jamie did something to get us away," he said. "One second we were standing on a street in London, and the next, Fleur vanished. Then...well, it felt like being whipped around in a very violent wind, and then I was lying flat on my back in Hogsmeade with Fleur...Gabrielle appeared a moment later."

Shay knew instantly what Jamie had done, and he closed his eyes, then opened them again. "She Displaced you." She sent them away. She realized what could happen if Fleur or Gabrielle were caught, and she saved them.

"Displaced?" Fleur repeated questioningly. "I 'ave never 'eard of zis."

"Seamus?" Dumbledore prodded quietly.

Shay glanced briefly at Gabrielle and Fleur, trying to decide whether he should say anything of importance in front of them. Finally, he sighed and said, "She cast a Displacement Spell on each of them."

"What's a Displacement Spell?" Ginny asked.

"It was developed to be used on children, Muggles--anyone who couldn't Apparate," Shay explained. "It's a very rough way of traveling, and it's not exact. Jamie probably sent them to Hogsmeade, but she wouldn't have been able to tell where in Hogsmeade they would appear." And then what? Jamie would have tried to Apparate...she wouldn't have gone to the Burrow; she wouldn't have wanted to risk leading the Death Eaters to the Weasleys. She would have gone after Bill, Fleur, and Gabrielle, to make sure they were all right. There could be nasty side-effects to being Displaced for the first time, including unconsciousness, and she wouldn't have left them knowing that. She had sent them to Hogsmeade, which meant she had been trying to get them to Hogwarts. He shook his head. "She should have come after you," he said shortly. "She probably would have Apparated to Hogwarts' gates."

"She wouldn't have been able to Apparate. I tried to do it when we were fighting the Death Eaters, to get behind them. They must have cast an Anti-Disapparation Jinx. We searched all over Hogsmeade, and we couldn't find her anywhere. And Jamie wasn't at Hogwarts gates when we passed." Bill sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Dumbledore... I cast a Conversion Charm on her to disguise her."

"What time?" Dumbledore asked pressingly.

"I cast it at about noon. It will wear off at around midnight. If the Death Eaters have her..."

Shay clenched his jaw so tightly it hurt, fighting down the roiling mass of emotion that was threatening to overtake him. If Jamie's disguise wore off, and the Death Eaters did have her, they wouldn't fail to notice her resemblance to Harry.

"We have to get her back," Ginny said.

Dumbledore looked at her over his spectacles. "We first have to find out if the Death Eaters do indeed have her, and we have to find out if she's alive," he said gently.

Shay had been carefully avoiding thinking about that idea. He knew it was a possibility. If Jamie had been unable to Apparate, she would have tried to Displace herself...but she still would have tried to meet with Bill and the Delacours. He was sure of it. If she couldn't Displace herself, she had been overcome. Would the Death Eaters have seen reason to keep her alive? She wouldn't have looked like anyone important to them. Would they have just killed her on the spot, or would they have taken her so they could torture her?

Shay was used to death; he had seen it his entire life. He had lost his father, his mother...Ron and Hermione, who had raised him from the time he was seven...he had lost people he fought beside, and he had always known that he, Will, and Jamie, risked death everyday. He had thought himself prepared for anything, but he found himself unable to face the thought of Jamie being dead. The very idea hurt like a physical blow. Images of deaths he had seen flashed through his mind, and he couldn't deal with Jamie ending up like that. She deserved a chance to live.

Shay stalked toward the door. "I need to talk to Will," he said stonily. Fear and anger swarmed through him, and all he knew was that he had to get Will, and they had to find out what had happened to Jamie.

Dumbledore held up a hand. "Seamus, please sit down for a--"

Shay ignored him, tugging on the door handle, but it wouldn't open. "Let me out."

"Seamus, please sit down. There are some things we need to sort out; give me a chance to see if I can find out what happened to Jamie." Dumbledore stood up. "And if you want to help her, then I'm going to need some questions answered. Please wait here. I also need to speak with Bill and Fleur. Gabrielle," Dumbledore looked kindly at the small girl. "Would you mind going with Ginny for a little while so I can talk with your sister?"

Gabrielle looked at Fleur, who nodded and whispered something to her.

"Ginny, would you mind accompanying Gabrielle to Gryffindor Tower? I will send word as soon as I can. Please ask William to wait there."

Ginny nodded numbly. "Of course." She motioned to Gabrielle, and they walked through the door, which opened for her. Shay experienced a small sense of relief that at least he didn't have to be in the same room as Gabrielle anymore.

"Please excuse me for a few minutes. I'm going to see what can be learned about the attack tonight, and about what might have happened to Jamie." Dumbledore stood up and walked into a room in the back.

Shay sat down on one of the chairs in front of his desk and buried his face in his hands. Damn it! This was Bill's fault; if he hadn't taken Jamie out of the Burrow...then again, if Jamie hadn't been stupid enough to leave the Burrow...

He realized that it wasn't Bill's fault, nor was it Jamie's, but he didn't know where to direct his frustration.

Fleur's soft voice broke him out of his reverie. "'oo are you?" Shay looked up to see her staring at him with a great deal of confusion on her face. "You are quite obviously part-veela--as I am part-veela; I recognize zis in you, but I want to know why you look so much like my family."

Shay considered her for a long moment. Would she believe the truth? Did she need to be told? Yes...because there's more she's going to have to know. She, of all people, will have to know, if only to protect herself and Gabrielle.

He didn't answer for a minute, but finally, in a curt voice, he said, "Because Gabrielle is my mother."

~*~

Jamie awoke flat on her back. It was pitch black, and she was very disoriented. She laid motionless for a long moment, trying to figure out where she was. What happened? Then it came back to her. She had been in the process of Displacing herself when a curse had been aimed at her. She certainly wasn't in Hogsmeade; she must have been knocked off course. She wasn't sure if the curse had actually hit her; she thought it was more likely that it had simply disrupted the Displacement.

The first thing she felt for was her wand, and she was relieved to find it on the ground in front of her, but her heart plummeted when she realized that it was broken in half. The only thing that held it together was the unicorn hair that ran through the core. Great. Just bloody great!

She still wasn't able to see anything, and wondered with a moment of panic if the Death Eaters spell had hit her after all, and if it had perhaps blinded her. She held her hand in front of her face, and to her relief, she saw the outline of her fingers. All right, so she wasn't blind, it was just really, really dark. And she couldn't even use her wand for light.

She tried to sit up and gasped in pain. As if the movement had awakened injuries, she felt her right ankle searing in agony, and her head pounded. She touched it and felt blood. The rest of her body was sore, too, as if she had dropped onto the ground from a height. That was a possibility; if the Displacement had gone awry, she might have appeared ten feet in the air.

Very carefully, she pushed herself to a sitting position, wincing as streaks of fire ran through her limbs. By now, she could see vague shapes that she realized were trees. The ground around her was covered in leaves. There wasn't any snow on the ground, and the air smelled of pine, which meant that the trees were probably so thick that no snow fell through. It was still freezing outside, and Jamie was glad she had been wearing her coat.

Where am I? Her first thought was the Forbidden Forest. She wasn't sure if it was possible to Apparate or Displace to the Forbidden Forest--but perhaps if she had been knocked off course during her Displacement, she had been dropped in there unintentionally. It was not a comforting thought. She had heard many a tale of the things that lurked in the woods outside of Hogwarts. Acromantulas, ferocious centaurs, and all sorts of other unpleasant creatures. Of course, she didn't even know that this was the Forbidden Forest. It could be a perfectly ordinary wood somewhere between London and Hogsmeade, which didn't exactly narrow things down.

She leaned against a tree and reached down to feel her ankle. It was swollen and hurt worse at the slightest pressure. She guessed it was broken. Even better, she sighed.

She hesitated. She could always try to Apparate; as long as she knew where she was going, it would work--of course, if she was in the Forbidden Forest, she wasn't sure it would work. She also didn't know how far away from Hogsmeade she was, and Apparation was tiring. She was already exhausted from being Displaced, and she was injured. Right now she wasn't even sure she had the energy to Apparate if her life depended on it.

And what had happend to Bill, Fleur, and Gabrielle? Were they all right? Had they reacted well to the Displacement? Had they reached Hogwarts safely? She had meant to go to them and make sure they weren't hurt or unconscious, but that obviously hadn't worked out too well. Had the Death Eaters heard her Displace them, or herself? She had tried to be quiet about it, but had been rather loud when Displacing herself. Of course, one of the other Death Eaters had shouted a spell at the same time. Would they have heard the 'Hogsmeade' part of it, and Apparated there? Did I just make things worse?

A long, low howl echoed throughout the woods, and Jamie froze. Wolf? Werewolf? Is it a normal forest, and just an ordinary wolf? Is it even a full moon tonight? She tried to think...had she seen the moon when walking through London? No, it was cloudy...I don't know if its full!

The howl rang out again, and she wasn't sure if it was closer or not. I have to get out of here. She tucked her broken wand into her robe and pushed herself to her good foot. Standing made her head and ankle throb. Where am I going, though? It doesn't really matter...I'll just get away from here, and when I've recovered a bit, I'll try to Apparate. Not to Hogsmeade, though...just in case the Death Eaters did hear me and went there. I'll go to the Shrieking Shack.

As a third howl resounded through the forest, Jamie hopped to left, grabbing onto trees that she could barely see for support. Tears of pain poured down her cheeks, but she bit her tongue to keep from making any noise. She didn't want to attract any attention in here--wherever here was.

After a few minutes, she had to stop to lean against a tree, breathing hard. She was dizzy and sick to her stomach. When Shay finds out about all of this, he's going to kill me. She sighed again. And I have no idea if I'm going in circles! I wonder if my wand will work for a Four-Point Spell. She pulled it out of her pocket and straightened the wood, holding the broken ends together. Cautiously, she laid it flat on her palm. "Point Me," she whispered. A flash of pink and green sparks shot out of the broken middle of the wand, and then the wand spun slowly toward the left. To test to see if it was really working, she turned around and again said, "Point Me." More sparks, and the wand rotated to point right. "Yes!" She wasn't going to try to use the wand for anything else; she had heard too many stories about her Uncle Ron's disastrous episodes with a broken wand during his second year. The last thing she wanted was to be belching slugs or something.

Taking a deep breath, she continued through the trees, using the Four-Point Spell to keep moving north. It was slow going, but she eventually found the trees thinning a bit. Patches of sky could be seen overhead, and Jamie glimpsed stars. Well, I'm away from London...or else the clouds just cleared up. She was glad for it; it allowed more light to shine down, but there still wasn't enough room for snow to fall through. It also enabled her to see her hair color for the first time. It was still light brown, which meant that however long she'd been unconscious, it was not yet midnight.

Jamie continued cautiously through the woods. She was just thinking, I expect this must be a perfectly ordinary forest, after all, when she felt a sudden gust of hot air on her back. Her head snapped around, and what she saw froze her in her tracks in horror. There was an enormous fur-covered head several feet from her face. A long snout protruded in the middle of it, with whiskers as thick as yarn coming out of it. Huge, angry eyes considered her hungrily. The creature bared its long, sharp teeth, and a thick string of drool oozed from its mouth, landing with a wet splat at Jamie's feet.

Barely thinking, Jamie yanked herself around one of the huge trees just as the creature lunged. Crashing footsteps echoed as the monster bounded past the tree and whirled around to face her. For the first time, she got a good look at it, and she realized with a surge of fear just what she was facing.

It was a three-headed dog. And if her memory proved correct, it was probably the same three-headed dog that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had had to sneak past to save the Stone in their first year. What was its name? Furry? Fleecy? Fluffy. That's it. And of course, that probably meant she was in the Forbidden Forest after all. What other place would have gigantic three-headed beasts?

The dog heads sniffed, and three pairs of eyes fixed on her. Jamie decided that anyone who would name this monster Fluffy had something seriously wrong with him. She remembered that when Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione told stories about the trials in rescuing the Stone, they had said that music put Fluffy to sleep. Well, that's convenient. I don't have anything musical! She wondered if singing would work, then decided that with her voice, that would probably only anger the dog heads further.

The dog heads plunged forward in unison, and Jamie threw herself to the side, landing flat on the ground. Her broken ankle hit a root, and she screamed. For a moment, blackness threatened her mind, but she fought it off, crawling on her arms and good leg into a thick brush in front of her. Hopefully the creature wouldn't be able to get through.

Moments later, the brush ripped out of the ground, and Jamie looked up to see the head on the left shaking it in its teeth. I'm going to have to try to Apparate! She concentrated, but nothing happened. She wasn't sure if it was just because she was so exhausted, or if it was because it was impossible to Apparate in the Forbidden Forest.

Just as one of the heads was about to bite into her leg, all three heads yelped and jerked back. A series of thwaps echoed through the air, accompanied by hoofbeats. Jamie caught sight of at least a dozen centaurs surrounding Fluffy, shooting arrows at it. Fluffy growled and snarled, snapping at the centaurs, but after a few moments, the giant three-headed dog bounded off into the woods and disappeared.

Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and sank back on the forest floor, her wand pieces still clutched in her hand. The next instant, she was yanked off of the ground and deposited on her feet. She didn't have time to take the weight off of her right ankle, and she bit back another scream, collapsing to the ground and clutching her ankle.

"She is injured," a slow, plaintive voice said, and through the tears that stung her eyes, Jamie could make out the form of a pale centaur moving to join one that stood directly in front of her.

"She should not be in our forest!" an angry voice said, and the centaur in front of her grabbed her by the back of her coat and lifted her off the ground. "This is the second time we have stopped humans in here today, and I will not suffer it! The other humans may have gotten away, but this one will not! She may have been sent to finish their work." He gave her a hard shake, which made her head spin and her stomach roil. "What of it, human? Have you come to take bits of our forest, too?"

Jamie was afraid, and sensibly so, but despite her fear, she was confused and curious. Other humans had been in the forest earlier? And what was this about finishing their work? "I haven't taken anything, and I didn't come here to finish anyone's work! I didn't mean to come here at all!"

"Look at her, Bane," a black centaur said. "She is obviously a student at the school."

"The students of that accursed school know better than to come here!" Bane, the centaur who held Jamie several feet in the air, snarled.

"I'm...not a student at Hogwarts..." Jamie choked out. "And I came here...by accident. Please, I just want to find my way out of the forest!"

"She is young, Bane. We do not harm foals."

"She is not so young," Bane retorted. "And she should not have trespassed!"

"I swear I didn't mean to come here!" Jamie said for the third time, praying that the centaurs wouldn't kill her. Even in her own time, they had not been on friendly terms with humans at all. The cardinal rule of dealing with centaurs was 'don't go near them, and they'll leave you alone.'

Bane shook her again, and Jamie swallowed, trying to keep from being sick. "Who are you?"

Closing her eyes against the sparks that flashed in her eyes, Jamie answered dizzily, "J-Jamie. My name is Jamie. Please, let me leave. I have no desire to ever come back." Wild thestrals couldn't make me come back in here, just please, please let me get out!

"Let her go, Bane," a brown and white centaur spoke in a gravelly voice. The speaker looked older than the other centaurs.

Bane dropped her for a second time, but Jamie was ready for it, and managed to keep off of her right leg as she fell back onto the ground. "If you come back to this forest after tonight, human, we will not be merciful."

The centaurs galloped off as quickly as they'd come, leaving Jamie sitting on the ground, shivering because of the cold and because of her injuries. Tears prickled in her eyes, but she fought them back, gritting her teeth and forcing herself to her good leg again. At least she knew she had been heading in the right direction; Hogwarts was to the north of the Forbidden Forest. If she just continued that way...

Taking a deep breath, Jamie opened the fist clenching her wand. Carefully, she straightened it again. "Point Me," she whispered. With more sparks, the wand spun and pointed north. Gritting her teeth, Jamie pushed herself forward. She hopped and stumbled from tree to tree, she felt her vision beginning to get darker, stopping from time to time, blinking and straining to keep herself conscious. When she finally stumbled out of the forest and saw Hogwarts castle looming ahead, she wanted to cry in relief. Almost there.

Unfortunately, there were no trees to hold onto for support now, and she didn't have the strength to hop on one foot all the way up to the castle. Her eyes scanned the grounds, and she realized that there was a light on in the cabin nearby--Hagrid's cabin, if she remembered correctly. I thought Hagrid was gone, though? That's what Will and Shay said...maybe he came back.

Jamie crept her way over to the cabin, and when she reached it, she clung to the doorframe and knocked on the door. Loud, deep barking resounded through the cabin, and then the door swung open. When Jamie saw who stood at the door, she sagged in relief. "Charlie!"

~*~

Jamie started to wake up when she felt someone holding her head and trying to get her to swallow something. She fought them, thinking, Poison! Someone's trying to poison me! Someone gripped her arms, and she thought she heard Shay's voice saying something to her. Then her world went dark again.

When she really woke up--incredibly tired of blacking out and waking up--she found herself lying in a bed and blinking up at a ceiling. Where am I? What happened? The last thing she remembered was Charlie Weasley's bewildered face... She slowly looked around, and her heart sank in relief when she saw Shay sitting on a seat beside her. His head was resting in his hands, and he looked more weary than Jamie ever remembered seeing him. I'm in the infirmary at Hogwarts.

She frowned and watched Shay for a minute. He so rarely put his guard down, but right now, it looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. She felt a pang in her chest; he seemed so sad.

He must have felt her watching him, because his head suddenly snapped up. He stared at her so intensely that Jamie braced herself for an outpouring of wrath, but to her great surprise, Shay stood up and enfolded her in a fierce embrace. Momentarily stunned, she blinked, and then wrapped her arms around him. She could count on one hand the number of times Shay had ever hugged her--he was just not a touchy-feely person.

She took a deep breath and let it out, feeling herself relax. She and Shay might clash a lot, but he was safe. She felt a strange reluctance when he pulled away, and then his sharp blue eyes were locked on hers. The most pressing thing on her mind spilled out. "Bill...Bill and Fleur and Gabrielle--are they all right? What happened to them? Did the Death Eaters get them?"

"They're fine," Shay said, turning the chair beside Jamie's bed around and straddling it. "They're all here, at Hogwarts. You got them out." Shay looked at her, and an emotion Jamie couldn't quite place flashed in his eyes. "Thank you."

The thanks surprised her again, but before she could reply, he continued, "Do you have any idea what you put us through tonight?"

Tonight...it's still the same day? Her eyes caught sight of a clock on the wall, and she saw that it was a quarter after three. Middle of the night, she thought. "I'm sorry, Shay," Jamie said wearily. "I messed up, all right? The Death Eaters almost captured me."

"Ja--" Shay tried to interrupt, but Jamie pressed on.

"I used several curses from the future, and I don't know what the Death Eaters heard. Voldemort will probably hear about it, and wonder who I am."

"Jam--"

"It's my fault, and I know it, all right? I should have stayed at the Burrow, I should have--"

"Jamie! Would you shut up?" Shay cut in, exasperated. "I was just going to say that I'm glad you're all right.

She blinked. "Oh." She wound her fingers together nervously and shook her head. "But what I said is true. I should have been more careful." Her hair fell into her face, and she vaguely noticed that it was back to its normal black.

"Jamie..." Shay sighed. "I was upset when Dumbledore said you'd gone to Diagon Alley, but he was right when he told me it was never expected this would happen. You didn't know, and you did the best you could. No one was captured or killed, though for a while we weren't sure...we thought that the Death Eaters had you. Or had killed you."

Jamie knew well what it was like to wait and wonder if someone you cared about was captured or dead. She had experienced it before, and she didn't wish it on anyone, let alone Shay and Will. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "They would have captured me...after I Displaced Bill and Fleur and Gabrielle." She quickly explained what had happened, and how she had ended up in the Forbidden Forest. "I got lucky. If the Death Eaters hadn't put me under the Imperius Curse, I wouldn't be here. They didn't know I could fight it. I was so scared, Shay. I was afraid they would torture me and that I would tell them something that would help them..."

"You wouldn't have told them anything," Shay said sharply.

"How do you know?" Jamie looked up and again met Shay's eyes. The emotion she had seen a minute ago was there again, and she still couldn't figure out what it was.

"Because I know you," Shay replied simply.

Jamie bit her lip and swallowed. She was quiet for a minute, and when she thought her voice would be steady, she said, "Where's Will?"

"With Dumbledore. Dumbledore came in here and asked us to come with him. He asked us to tell him the story of our future--he said the time had come when he needed to know details."

"Did you tell him?" Jamie wondered how much of a fight Shay had put up.

"Will went with him to tell him. I stayed here with you. So did she." Shay nodded toward the other side of Jamie, and she turned, seeing for the first time that Ginny Weasley was sleeping in the hospital bed beside hers. "Your dad and the others who came to see you went back to Gryffindor Tower to wait until morning. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let them all stay here, but Ginny insisted."

She stayed...she insisted on staying. Something twisted in Jamie's heart. Believing that Ginny cared about her was one thing, but seeing it firsthand made her want to cry. "I need to talk to Dumbledore, Shay. The centaurs in the Forbidden Forest...they said other humans had been in there earlier, doing...something. They thought I might be there to finish some kind of work for them--they asked if I had come to 'take bits of their forest, too.' I was a bit confused as to what they were talking about, but I think Dumbledore should know about it."

Shay nodded. "He said he'd be back to check on you, and I'm sure he'll want to talk to you."

Jamie nodded, then frowned. "Is Madam Pomfrey the one who made me drink something a while ago? I think I remember something like that..."

"She was trying to give you medicine. Charlie Weasley carried you up here; he was down at Hagrid's cabin feeding Hagrid's dog, Fang. He said you knocked on the door and then passed out. You looked awful--bloody head, broken ankle, completely pale--but you wouldn't take the medicine," Shay said with a touch of exasperation. "It took a minute to calm you down enough so you'd swallow it."

Jamie sighed and leaned back on her pillow, feeling exhausted. "Shay..." she hesitated, and looked at him again. She wanted to ask him a couple of questions, but she was pretty sure he would close himself off again, and she didn't want that. It had been several months since she had seen him, and she didn't want this to become an argument.

Shay knew her too well. He folded his arms across the chair back, and just as she had expected, his face became a mask. "Yes," he said flatly. "I met Gabrielle. She's with Professor McGonagall right now. I only saw her for a little bit, when she first arrived at Hogwarts."

"But?" Jamie sensed there was more to it.

Shay was quiet for a moment, and then he said flatly, "I'm considering staying at Hogwarts over Christmas break."

"What? Why?" She had so been looking forward to spending time with Shay and Will, and things were already prepared at the Burrow...

"I talked to Fleur," Shay said abruptly.

Jamie froze, her eyes locked on Shay's face. His eyes met hers, but they were as masked of emotion as the rest of his face. "You...told her?"

"Everything." Shay's jaw knotted, and he looked away. "She needed to know. If she already knows about it, there's less of a chance that Voldemort will also learn about it."

"As long as she's very, very careful," Jamie said. "And even then, it might come out eventually." She sighed. "What about...what about Gabrielle?" And how did this all tie into his not wanting to come to the Burrow for Christmas?

"I talked it over with Fleur, and we both agreed that Gabrielle doesn't need to know any of this. She doesn't need to know that I'm her son in the future; Fleur wants her to be at a point where she can better understand and accept it, and I agree. I don't think she should find out now, if ever. Her eleventh birthday is coming up, but I'm always going to be six years older than her in this time. And there's no reason she needs to know the rest of it yet. Fleur can teach her soon enough." Shay was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Jamie, Bill was on duty with the Order yesterday morning, before you went to Diagon Alley."

Jamie still didn't see where this was going, and she was beginning to get a bit irritated. She forced back her annoyance. "And?"

"He had spent the night at the Order's headquarters, because he had to be on duty really early. The plan was that one of the other members of the Order would relieve him of duty--which he did--and then Bill went home before picking you up at the Burrow. Dumbledore said he thinks Bill might have been followed, and that's how the Death Eaters knew where he lived...and then they staged an ambush outside his building."

Jamie shook her head, confused, and Shay sighed, "Don't you see? The Death Eaters saw Fleur, too. She's not safe, either. In fact, Fleur's joined the Order. She and Gabrielle are going to be living in the Order's headquarters for now--so is Bill. They can't go home, and they've had to take a leave from work, since it's not safe for anyone in Diagon Alley if they go back right now, just in case the Death Eaters try something else. Dumbledore thinks Bill was attacked simply because he is part of the Order, and the Death Eaters wanted information. The whole ordeal is Order-related. And--" here he looked at her pointedly. "--the Weasleys have moved to headquarters. Dumbledore went with them to escort Molly there earlier--he's Secret-Keeper for the Order, and he was the only one who could let her in. He thinks it'll be safer if they're not at the Burrow."

"Ohhh." Jamie frowned in understanding. It didn't surprise her that Shay was running away from Gabrielle--though he would never admit that was what he was doing. He was scared--also something he wouldn't confess to; he wouldn't even admit it to himself. "Shay...you can't avoid Gabrielle for the rest of your life."

"I know," Shay said testily. "I'm just not sure I'm going to go to the Order's headquarters for Christmas."

"Shay..." How to convince him without getting him angry? It would be good for him to be around Gabrielle for a while--he would get used to seeing her, and it would make life a lot easier on him in the future. Not only that-- "Shay, you have to come," she pleaded. "Christmas wouldn't be the same without you. I've never had a Christmas without you there." He opened his mouth to argue, and she cut him off. "Please. I want you to be there." She wasn't sure he would do it, even though she was asking, but it was worth a try.

Shay's blue eyes pierced her for a moment, and finally he nodded once. "Fine," he said curtly. "I'll come."

Jamie smiled, feeling relieved. "Thank you." She had another thought, and frowned. "What about Percy? He doesn't know about the Order, and Mrs. Weasley said he was supposed to be coming for Christmas."

"Apparently, he stopped by to see your grandmother earlier, and told her that Minister Fudge asked him to travel to France with him over the Christmas holidays. Something about meeting with the French Minister of Magic to discuss international security," Shay said.

"Oh."

Shay stretched and stood up. "Hungry?"

The mention of food brought Jamie's empty stomach to her attention, and she nodded. "Very. I haven't eaten since Bill and I first got to Diagon Alley," she admitted.

"I'll just swing by the kitchens and see about grabbing you some food. We'll sneak it past Madam Pomfrey if she comes out here." Shay offered her one of his very rare smiles, and headed out of the hospital wing.