Alone

Chapter 8

"I have to make sure," Jake told Derek as he stood up. Derek nodded, knowing what Jake meant.

**An Hour Later**

Jake stood at the base of the stairs; he had just called his boss and taken an indefinite leave of absence and was ready to go. In his hand was a suitcase with a couple of day's worth of clothes. Derek bounded down the stairs after him and rubbed his hand together.

"Well come on, get a move on and let's go," he said excitedly. Jake stopped and glared at his friend.

"What do you mean let's go? It's just me that's going," he told him sternly. Derek smiled easily.

"Of course it is. Now show me the way," he commanded his own suitcase of clothing at his feet.

Jake crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Derek. Derek looked innocently back, pretending not to know why Jake was so angry.

"You-" jab in Derek's chest "- are-" jab "-not-" jab "-going," Jake said with finality as Derek rubbed his chest.

"That hurts and of course I'm going. You don't want to hang around with people you hate all day do you?" he asked with a grin as Jake shook his head.

"You can't go. It's too dangerous," Jake argued as Derek shrugged.

"No it's not, I have Wonder Boy protecting me," Derek said, looking pointedly at Jake. Jake narrowed his eyes and shook his head again.

"You are not coming," he said exasperatedly as Derek shrugged.

"I don't care what you think, I'm going and you can't stop me," Derek said and stuck his tongue out at Jake. Jake raised an eyebrow.

"No," he said firmly.

~~*~~

"Why isn't Harry here?" Hermione asked. Six weeks had gone by and still Harry wasn't there.

"Are you stupid Granger? Didn't you read the note that he sent?" Draco asked. Hermione flushed.

"Of course I did" she answered. Draco rolled his eyes.

"And what does the note say?" he asked. Hermione's flush continued to gain colour.

"That he's not coming," she mumbled.

"Exactly, so why are you asking about whether Potter's coming back or not?" Draco asked. Hermione was now red with embarrassment as she fidgeted. Draco smirked.

Without another word, Draco stood up and left. He would like to say that he was sure Harry would come, but in reality, he wasn't.

He hadn't told anyone that he had sent that newspaper clipping to Harry, knowing they probably wouldn't approve. Draco could tell that guilt was eating away at Harry after he collapsed the day Draco went to his apartment and told him about the up-coming deaths of innocent Muggles and wizards. All Harry needed was another push and what other 'push' would be better than that clipping, broadcasting the death of twenty-five innocent Muggle students?

Draco's smirk disappeared as worry started playing on his mind.

What if he says no and doesn't come? What if that clipping only makes him angrier? What if he didn't even open the letter? What if he just ripped it up or burnt it or something? What if-

Shut up! Don't think like that. You'll drive yourself crazy with what ifs. I'm sure Potter read the letter, Draco comforted himself as he entered the classroom.

~~*~~

"For Pete's sake Derek! You are not coming!" Jake shouted angrily at his best friend.

"Yes I am! You don't think I'm gonna leave you with those- those, people, for more than five minutes, do you?" Derek shot back just as angrily, saying people as if that was the last word he'd use to describe them.

"Yes, you are, because this isn't your damn battle! Look I can take care of myself, I won't take any shit from them," Jake said, trying a new approach. From the look on Derek's face and in his eyes, he clearly wasn't buying it.

"No, I'm coming with you," he stated firmly as Jake threw his hands up in frustration. He ran a hand through his hair and glared at the blond-haired, brown-eyed man that was his best friend.

"Fine, but if anything happens, you're coming straight back," he said grudgingly, as Derek broke into a grin.

"Of course," he promised and like every 'good' friend, he was intent on breaking a promise like that.

~~*~~

"Albus we have to stop waiting for Potter to show up. If he was going to show up, he would've done so already," Draco said firmly that morning in an early Order meeting.

Albus sighed and rubbed his temples as most of the members sat numbly. They could still not believe that Harry Potter had just abandoned them like this. Sure, they didn't believe him when he needed them to, but was losing his friends something he could sit back and watch?

"You're right, it's time to move on and make plans without Harry in them," he said dejectedly before the meeting broke up. After all, there would be another meeting the next morning.

~~*~~

Jake tumbled out of the fire at the Leaky Cauldron. Derek was a few feet away from the flame, waiting for him and looking nervously at the surroundings. Jake coughed. After not doing it for fours years he wasn't used to travelling through the fire by floo powder again. He grinned as he remembered Derek's reaction.

**Ten Minutes Ago**

Jake sighed in defeat as he looked at Derek.

"Fine," he said again and picked up his suitcase.

"Come on, you wanna come with me, then let's go," he ordered as Derek picked up his own suitcase and followed.

Stopping in front of the fire, Jake lit it and reached for the vase on the mantel piece. Reaching in, he grabbed a handful of floo powder and showed Derek.

"You throw this into the fire, step in and call out Leaky Cauldron," he instructed, holding the vase out to Derek. Derek backed away slowly.

"Are you shitting me?" he asked nervously. Jake smirked and shook his head.

"I'm serious," he told him. Derek shook his head again.

"You want me to step into a fire," he said slowly and in the tone of voice that implied that Jake was quite possibly crazy for thinking such a thing. Jake's smirk widened into a smile and he nodded.

"Of course. It's not going to hurt, promise. Scout's honour," he said, raising his right hand, Derek snorted.

"You weren't a Scout," he retorted. Jake shrugged.

"If you wanna come, you're going to have to go this way 'cause I'm not going to go by plane," he told Derek sternly, but his dancing eyes betrayed his amusement at his best friend's obvious discomfort. Derek glared, but strode forward and took a handful of floo powder.

"Fine," he grumbled and threw the powder into the fire.

"But if I burn any, uh, important body bits off, then you're going down," he told the laughing Jake as he looked at the green fire.

Without another moment's hesitation, Derek stepped in and said loudly and clearly, "Leaky Cauldron."

Jake laughed again and proceeded to do the same.

**Now**

Jake laughed again as he looked at Derek.

"Burn anything?" he asked teasingly as Derek turned a shade of pink that would've given Ron a run for his money.

"Shut up," he told Jake.

They strode out to the small courtyard where the entrance to Diagon Alley was.

"I'm going to apparate into Hogsmeade and bring you with me," he told Derek. Derek raised an eyebrow.

"Apparate?" he asked. Jake slapped his forehead.

"You know what Malfoy did? Popping into the apartment like that?"

Derek nodded.

"That's what I'm going to do. Don't worry, I have a license, I got one in America," he assured Derek when he saw the worried look on his face. Derek nodded uncertainly.

"Give me your hand," Jake instructed. Derek smirked.

"If you're going to propose, at least let me use the ladies' room first and check my make-up," Derek said in a high-pitched voice as Jake rolled his eyes.

Grabbing Derek's hand, Jake apparated them both into Hogsmeade without commenting. Looking around, Jake felt a wave of sadness wash over him again as his blue eyes took in the familiar landscape.

"Are you alright?" Derek asked softly as Jake snapped back to reality.

"Yeah, yeah I am," Jake answered and forced a smile on to his face.

"It's just that this place is so familiar, you know what I mean?" Jake asked as Derek nodded and patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Well, where do we go now?" Derek asked after a few moments of silence. Jake shook himself mentally and pointed to the castle in the distance.

"I would apparate closer, but I don't know where the anti-apparation ward ends," Jake explained as they picked up their bags and started making their way towards the castle. (A/N let's just say that with the time change, it should be morning at Scotland since Jake and Derek left at night from America)

~~*~~

"How far do we have to go?" Derek whined for the millionth time that hour. The pair had been walking for nearly an hour, carrying their bags which seemed to get heavier and heavier as time wore on.

Jake exhaled loudly and ran a hand through his hair. Glaring at Derek, he wished that he had his wand back and curse Derek into something horrible. To say he had a lot on his mind at the moment was an understatement and with Derek continuously blabbering about the 'stupid, apparition ward of some crack-pot school is giving me blisters on my blisters and forcing me to walk so far with an eight hundred kilogram bag' was not helping.