Til The End

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`Til The End

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Owl from R. Davies to C. Chang, 5 December

Cho,

Sorry that I've not written in so long. I'm sure that by now, you've heard of the capture of Mordred Weston and Claudius Nott. After I'd received that information surrounding Charisse's death, I took my group of Aurors and joined with a group of Shen-Wu Mages and we raided the Weston Mansion. The Mage leader killed Hector Nott in the fray, as he tried to fire the Killing Curse at her. Last week, the Mage Leader, several Ministry members, and myself witnessed them receiving the Dementor's Kiss.

Charisse has been avenged.

But... I do not feel proud. I wish that all of this never had to happen. Merlin... if none of this happened, where would we be now? Rather than becoming the jaded Auror and world-weary Unspeakable that we are today, perhaps we would be living happy, complacent, homey lives. Perhaps... perhaps neither of us would ever have to witness the blood, death and violence that make up our lives today. Maybe it is blasphemy for an Auror to say this... but I wish that it were over.

I had joined the Aurors' Guild so that I could do my part in stopping the violence and tragedy that had torn our carefree world apart and caused so many people so much pain and heartbreak. But... now, with the blood of Merlin knows how many people on my hands, directly or indirectly... even if they might have deserved it a thousand times over... I just feel sick sometimes. Do you ever get that feeling? I hope not... but I won't try to deceive myself.

I wish that both of us could go back to those days when all we worried about were end of term exams and Quidditch. And when you... when we smiled. Everyday. And meant it.

But enough of this wishful thinking. It is the life that I have chosen, and I do not regret choosing it. Today, we have finished combing down the Weston Mansion. After all the Dark Arts instruments and such had been removed and confiscated, the mansion has been closed for now, although we let the house-elves remain and keep it clean, until Anthony is of age to inherit it in four years. Besides that, the boy has five hundred thousand Galleons inheritance, to be granted two hundred per annum until he is of age to inherit the principle. He shall certainly not want for anything materially.

I am quite glad that Fleur has chosen to adopt him. Maybe... just maybe, now, people like us won't ever have to see him on the opposing side of the battlefield.

I hope that you are well. Please owl me back whenever you have the time.

Always yours,

Roger

* * *

That night, as Roger watched the owl fly away into the cloudy night sky, an argument of a most ferocious nature was taking place in the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts. Two fourth-year students, a Ravenclaw girl and a Slytherin boy, were going at each other's throats.

Professor Snape, after informing Anthony Weston of his new living arrangements come summertime, had also given the boy strict admonitions telling him that unless he start going to Astronomy class and make at least passable marks, he would not be able to continue studying at Hogwarts. And so, rather reluctantly, Anthony had reported to the Tower that evening, and Professor Sinistra, the heartless, sadistic bint, had declared that the best (only) thing for him to do would be to catch up, he should have a tutor, and she knew just the student to do it.

A moment later, Una Markham, the pert little Mudblood, had walked in. Her smile had vanished when she saw who was waiting there, although, to his great surprise, she did not make any sort of comment at all. In fact, she had gazed at him with... pity.

He seethed and heartily wished that she had blacked his eye again instead. A MUDBLOOD! PITYING him!

He had stubbornly and systematically tuned out any and all of her explanations of the major stars in the zodiac constellations. He had taunted her, addressed her as Mudblood every time she paused in her pointless instructions, and in short, tried his damnedest to hack her off, so she would either storm off, and he could leave this nightmarish place, or she would lose her temper and punch him or something. And he would welcome the pain, because... pain was good. Better than numbness.

It had not worked. She had continued to instruct, not knowing or caring whether he listened or not, until he, in a fit of fury at the futility of his efforts, had chucked her telescope straight out the window.

And then, at last, her eyes had flashed ireful green lightning at him, and she had screeched at him to stop wallowing in his bloody self-pity and act his age. He had retorted that it was none of her business, and that he could act any age he damn well pleased, complete with a look that obviously dared her to hit him. But, she didn't. She strode up to him, and reached up to grab him by both shoulders with surprisingly strong hands.

"Look, I'm not as ignorant as you think! I know what happened with your father and your sister, and I also know that you don't want to talk about it, and that you don't want to do something like this that you consider useless tripe! But that's just too bloody bad! You have to go on! And besides, it's your own fault for not going to anyone to talk about it! Blast it, you boys are so stupid sometimes!! You may alienate me and everyone else by deliberately provoking them, but that's your loss! You're not as alone as you think, but you will be if you keep on being such a bloody git!" she hissed at him, green eyes practically spitting fire, shaking his shoulders slightly.

And then, there was silence. Ice-blue eyes wide with stunned shock stared into snapping jade-green ones, and two gazes fought... then subsided, like quieting waters. Time stretched like a piece of warm rubber, slow and smooth. And then, Anthony jerked back as if hit by an electric shock, and for a moment, just a brief, fleeting second, his face relaxed, the features almost childlike, the eyes unguarded, before he scowled and pointedly turned away from the girl in front of him.

The door suddenly opened, and Professor Sinistra poked her head inside. "Any progress made?" she asked Una in a genial voice, beaming at the girl.

Una looked at the Slytherin boy's rigid back, then at the window where her telescope had been tossed out. And then, she remembered a transitory glimpse of candor and the suggestion of a soul in his eyes. Finally, she spoke, looking straight at the Astronomy professor's questioning gaze. "Yes, I think so."

"Excellent!" Celesta Sinistra beamed at the two students, and moved aside to let them out. "Well, get going then, you two. Go to bed, and since this seems to work quite well, you two can continue here tomorrow night."

The two filed out silently, and walked down the stairs of the tower until they reached the main corridor. Una looked at Anthony for a moment, seeming to be slightly torn, and then, she spoke, "Good night, Anthony."

He watched silently as she headed down the hall, rounded a corner, and disappeared off to the direction of Ravenclaw Tower. And then, before he, too, turned to head for the dungeons, he whispered, "Good night, Una."

And so it was, that Anthony Weston resumed attending Astronomy classes. And, in the evenings, deigned to allow a Muggleborn Ravenclaw help him catch up on what he'd missed. Of course, though he tried his best not to let on, he made visible progress, and by Christmastime, he had caught up to a sizable enough degree that there was no need for more tutoring sessions to take place. On the day of the last session, the Ravenclaw girl had grinned at him, and wished him well. He managed to bite back a sneer, gave her a curt nod, and walked out of the place.

He needed to go to Hogsmeade.

* * *

On Christmas morning, Una awoke to find a pile of presents by her bed. There were the requisite new robe and jewelry from her parents, candy from the Quidditch team, and books from her friends. And... a package that was wrapped in silver paper. Una frowned wonderingly for a moment, then carefully opened the present up.

It was a silver telescope. Replacing the one that the aggravating Anthony Weston had thrown out the window. It was of a finer quality than her old one had been. But... she only used her telescope for tutoring him, and for stargazing on her own time. No one knew that it had been broken...

Then, she smacked herself on the head for being dense. Of course! It was obvious whom... but why? Throwing on a white sweater and a pair of jeans, she ran down to the Great Hall.

Anthony Weston was sitting alone at the Slytherin table, head bent over his Potions text. His housemates had not come down yet, so Una approached him without trepidation. He ignored her, and she cleared her throat. Finally, he looked up, a bored, somewhat unreadable expression on her face. "What?"

"Thanks for the telescope, and happy Christmas."

He looked startled for a moment, then he sneered at her, "Well, far be it from me to be indebted to a Mud--to you. And aren't you at the wrong table?"

Una rolled her eyes and walked away, back to her own table. She sat down next to Orla, who was entirely oblivious, her face buried in a book entitled Curses and Countercurses: A Guide to the Guild by Auror Val Pelham. Helping herself to a plateful of blueberry pancakes, she smiled slightly to herself, as she felt someone's eyes fixed on her back.

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"What in blazing damnation do you think you are doing?!"

The young man up in the air circled the sky lazily once more before spiraling down towards the ground. He leveled out about six feet above the ground, and looked down with a languid smile at the young woman, who was standing there, looking up at him with furious eyes, her fists on her hips, tapping one small foot on the ground.

"What does it look like? I was flying. It's finally warm again, now that it's springtime, so I'm enjoying the nice weather this afternoon."

"Do you not remember that you are a fugitive? Are you trying to get caught, and have those Death Eaters after us as well?!"

Draco Malfoy shrugged expansively, "I cast a concealment charm upon myself. And, I did not see any of those Muggle metallic flying birds either."

"Still..." Jing-Li glared at him, "What in the world were you doing up there anyway? And where did you get that broom?"

Now, it was Draco's turn to scowl. "The broom is a blasted Cleansweep Five, pathetic compared to my own broom, but even as such, I was reduced to begging your friend Chen Wei to use it. I've been cooped here for months now, and I'm bloody sick of it. Do you never consider that, perhaps, I don't like being caged?"

"It's for your safety, you idiot!" Jing-Li hissed. "Did you forget that you are a fugitive of the Death Eaters, who would kill you on sight... nay, who would have killed you already had it not been for me?" Draco narrowed his eyes and stalked forward a little recklessly, stopping right in front of her so that they were toe to toe.

"Don't even start on that, woman! I'm bored as all hell, and you don't allow me to do anything. I'm a man, and, despite everything that has happened in the past few months, I'm a Malfoy. We Malfoys do not owe debts to anyone, and we also do whatever we want. And, though you might want me to be in your debt forever, rest assured... I will not be. And this means that I will not be sheltered and caged any longer."

Jing-Li reached a hand out.

Five hours later, Draco Malfoy awoke to find himself lying in his tent, strapped down so that he couldn't move. All was quiet around him, and through the open tent flap, he could see the setting sun.

"WHAT THE DEVIL?!"

A small figure toddled into the tent. The boy. The boy that had been at his Initiation. Jack. The boy chuckled childishly when he saw Draco. "Hullo, Uncle Dwaco. Are you playin' thurgery?"

"Where's Jing-Li?" Draco demanded.

"Auntie Jing-Jing is fightin' bad guys," Jack replied matter-of-factly. "She made you fall athleep thith morning after you were being naughty." Jack made a tsk-tsk sound and grinned at Draco, "So, you're playin' thurgery."

Draco opened his mouth to contradict the statement, then shut it all of a sudden, as a calculating gleam entered his eyes. "Sure. You want to be my surgeon?"

Jack nodded eagerly, and Draco smiled. "You can get my wand, it's on the table over there, and pretend that it's your scalpel." Jack did so, and used the wand to make imitative cutting motions over Draco's stomach. A moment later, the boy smiled. "You're all done now, Uncle Dwaco."

Draco took the wand from the child's hand, and muttered the incantation to loosen the straps from his body. "I thank you, Dr. Jack." He quickly transfigured a nearby tea set into a bunch of hand-puppets. "Here, how about you go and make up a puppet show to perform for `Auntie Jing-Jing'?"

Jack grinned ingenuously at the tall young man, and gave Draco an impulsive hug. "Can we play again tomorrow, Uncle Dwaco?"

"Sure," Draco answered hurriedly, "Now run along."

Jack, puppets in tow, skipped off. Draco grabbed his wand, and performed a locating spell. Well, since he had nothing to do... he might as well. Casting another concealment charm upon himself, he strode out of his tent to the Apparation point at the front of the campsite, and Disapparated.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Avery residence, Jing-Li was in a spot of trouble.

She had not been on a raid that night. She had not brought any others with her. No, indeed, she had simply been on a scouting mission, to see if the Death Eaters had any more plans that she might like to know about. Unfortunately for her, there had been a loose brick on the roof.

When she had stepped forward to get closer to the windows and listen, the loose brick had tumbled down, and hit the ground with a resounding bang. A moment later, no less than seven armed wizards had Apparated onto the roof. Walden Macnair had thrown his executioner's axe at her head, and while she was momentarily distracted, ducking the weapon, Erasmus Parkinson had managed to disarm and stun her.

Now, she was chained to the wall of the Avery dungeons, and Demetrius Avery was leering at her. Next to Avery was a large tank, and inside, there swam a school of medium-sized fish with red bellies. Avery addressed her in an arrogant voice, "So... you are to tell me, my pretty little Magelet, where your camp is located."

Jing-Li pointedly ignored him. Avery continued, twirling a goblet of red wine in his hands. "Are you familiar with animals, my dear?"

Jing-Li still remained silent, and Avery pushed on, "These fish... they look very harmless, don't they? Well... unfortunately for you, they're not. Piranhas, flesh-eating fish... they can decimate you to a skeleton in minutes." He drained his cup, then smashed the glass against the wall, so that he was holding a jagged shard in his hand. "I could cut you... and throw you in. They will smell your blood, and they will devour you. You will struggle in pain, and they will simply become more ferocious. Unless... of course, you... behave."

Jing-Li took a long look at the school of piranhas in the tank, then turned back to Avery, who was watching her expectantly. Deliberately, she spat right in his face.

With a cry of rage, Avery lunged forward, intent on gashing her cheek with his glass fragment. And then, there was a booming, authoritative voice at the door of the dungeons. "HOLD!"

Avery turned around in surprise, as did Jing-Li, as Lucius Malfoy crossed the dungeon floor in several long strides.

Lucius Malfoy gave Jing-Li a penetrating, unreadable look, "So, this is the insolent little Mage leader who sported off with my son."

Avery nodded, "Yes, it is, Mr. Malfoy. I was just about to feed her to the fishes."

Lucius Malfoy raised a blond eyebrow, "Oh really? Then I was just on time."

"What?"

"Don't feed her in yet, Avery, you fool. Let me deal with her. She does, after all, have my son." Lucius answered in a suitably arrogant, authoritative drawl. Avery nodded, and Lucius made a dismissive gesture, "I'll take her to my home, and... we shall see just how... prideful... this little girl is."

"Very well," Avery acquiesced, and gave Jing-Li one last sadistic grin before walking out, shutting the door behind him. As his footsteps died down, Lucius suddenly turned to Jing-Li with a worried expression, and pointed his wand at the chains. The manacles snapped open, and Jing-Li found herself free. Before she could say anything, Lucius had handed her wand back to her.

"All right, let's get out of here." He grabbed her hand, and Disapparated them both away.

They arrived at the Mage camp a moment later, and Jing-Li jerked herself away from him, immediately crouching down into a defensive stance and pointing her wand at him. "What is going on?"

But Lucius was changing... his face and form shifting, albeit slightly. The harsher lines were softening slightly, the gray eyes lightening from slate to stormy gray-blue. The long hair was shortening, going from a silvery queue to a slightly windswept, shorter cut, with silky blond strands at the crown of his head. The slender hands, slightly roughened from Quidditch, pulled a vial from his pocket.

"Polyjuice potion," Draco Malfoy said nonchalantly, "I had one vial of Polyjuice potion containing one of my father's hairs. Never thought that I would use it, but..." and then, he grinned down at her, "We're even now, Xiao ye mao."

"And they let you pass... and how did you...?!" Jing-Li looked at the young man with an incredulous expression on her face, trying to compute exactly what had happened.

"I conned Jack into setting me free. Most unsporting of you to tie me down. I was bored, so I followed. And good thing, too. As for them letting me pass... well, Macnair and Avery and them might be ruthless, but that doesn't mean that they can't be gullible now and then. Besides, I'm a Malfoy." And now, once again, he advanced on her, a sly smile on his handsome, arrogant face, one hand coming forward to cover hers that held her wand, and lowering the slender wooden rod into a non-threatening position, the other coming up to caress her cheek softly. "How do you feel now?"

Jing-Li felt her breath catch in her throat for a moment, and that moment was long enough for her to come to her senses. Cursing herself for her lack of discipline, she pulled away, a mutinous expression on her face.

"I've never felt so humiliated in my life," she whispered before whirling around and walking away, her unbound hair swirling around her. Draco watched as she disappeared into her tent and smiled wryly.

"Malfoys do tend to have that effect on most people, but you're just being ridiculous right now."

* * *

Owl from C. Chang to R. Davies, 5 June

Roger,

I'm twenty years old today. No longer a girl, but I think that in this world, we both left childhood earlier than most.

I have just received an owl from Fleur the other day. Anthony Weston seems to be doing better. He had many things on his mind, but it seems as though they're gradually getting sorted out. She thinks that he has changed, and most likely for the better. Apparently, Una Markham (you remember me mentioning her, of course, as a Chaser for Ravenclaw and Muggleborn witch) had to tutor him in Astronomy, and somehow, through their interactions, his prejudices have lessened to a degree. It might even be the beginning of a friendship.

Good for him. Now, growing up in a more positive home environment, and associating with people who will be better examples for him, he should be all right.

So... I believe that, hard though it might be to find, there is some good in the world after all. And that shall be my motto this year, to keep me going when things get hard.

Roger, I hope that you are all right. Please, be careful. The world that we grew up in is now torn in war, and you are right in the thick of it. Please... for my sake, if not anyone else's, be careful, and try to keep hope. I don't ever want to have to say, "Yes, Roger Davies... I used to know him."

I wish you all the best for your next mission, and will keep you in my prayers.

Always yours,

Cho

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Okay! Now, that was fun, no? Review!!