Chapter Sixteen - Breaking Through
Pressed up against the glass / I found myself wanting sympathy / But to be consumed again / Oh I know would be the death of me.
And there is a love that's inherently given / A kind of blindness offered to deceive / And in that light of forbidden joy / Oh I know I won't receive it.
When all we wanted was the dream / To have and to hold / That precious little thing / Like every generation yields / The new born hope unjaded by the years.
--"Wait" - Sarah McLachlan
Glory walked over to Dawn and knelt down next to her. Ron struggled against his bonds - he wanted desperately to help her.
Because Dawn was visibly terrified.
Glory laughed, a high-pitched, painful sound -
And turned into Voldemort.
Dawn blinked, confused, and Ron voiced his own confusion by saying, "What the hell?!"
"It's called glamour Mr. Weasly. I have to incite fear somehow."
Ron bellowed a stream of curses that made Dawn flinch.
"Now now, what kind of language is that?"
Ron glared. Voldemort moved to stand in front of Dawn.
"Well, well, well, what do you know? I have the key."
Dawn struggled against the ropes on her wrists.
Voldemort pulled a knife from his cloak. Dawn tried to move away, but was unsuccessful. He took two swipes at her abdomen. Dawn cringed and tried to stop herself from crying out when she saw her blood touch the ground because she knew what happened next.
"Ohgodohgodohgodoh - "
Suddenly, Pettigrew screamed.
"I though you said the blood of the key was the power!" Voldemort yelled.
"It is master! I swear it is!"
"Liar! Crucio!"
Pettigrew writhed in pain.
"You!" Voldemort turned to Dawn.
"Dawnie - "
"Shut up Ron!"
Something was happening, she knew it. Something big was coming. The ground seemed to shake beneath them.
Voldemort screamed. He and Pettigrew disappeared.
"Yes!" Dawn pulled her left hand free, taking a few deep breaths. She winced at the pain moving brought her.
Dawn carefully reached behind her and untied her right hand, and then Ron. He stood up and moved his arms, completely stiff from being in the same position for so long.
Dawn leaned back against the tree they had been tied to. Ron came up to her and put his hands on her cheeks.
"Are you alright?"
Nodding brought another wave of dizziness, followed by another stabbing pain in her stomach.
"Oh yeah, I'm great. Of course, if I try to move away from this tree, I'll probably collapse." She looked around. "Where are we anyways?"
Ron put his arms around her shoulders and helped her walk. "I don't know. I think we're in the Forbidden Forest somewhere."
"Buffy!" Dawn screamed.
She received no answer.
"Damnit!" Dawn kicked a fallen tree branch and was met with another dizzy spell. She looked at Ron. "What are we going to do?"
Ron picked her up. "I am going to carry you and we are going to find your sister."
"I can walk, thank you very much - OW!"
Ron had only lightly touched her abdomen. He arched an eyebrow and she sighed.
"Lead the way."
"Thank you." She leaned her head on his shoulder and let him carry her away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy was pacing the Gryffindor Common Room. It had been two days, and there was still no sign of Ron or Dawn.
And to make matters worse, the students were returning to school for classes the next day.
An owl flew in the window and landed on the edge if the couch. She hooted.
"Not now Iris."
Iris nipped lightly at Buffy's shirt.
"Ugh, what is - "
She cut herself off when she saw a letter attached to Iris' leg. Buffy practically tore the letter off and read it. Iris hooted, annoyed, and flew off.
Buffy read the letter again aloud to herself.
Buffy,
Remind me to tell Dumbledore that he has the smartest owl alive. I don't know how Iris found us, but she did.
Dawn isn't doing so well. I think she has a cold, but the cuts on her stomach aren't helping. We've been wandering and we're tired. We're in the Forbidden Forest - somewhere. Maybe Iris can show you? Because we have no idea where we are.
-Ron
P.S. Dawn said to say that the binding spell worked.
Buffy practically ran to Dumbledore's office and stumbled through the door.
"They're in the Forbidden Forest!"
She stopped. "I'm sorry Professor. I didn't realize you were in a meeting."
"Not at all. I was just discussing with Professor Snape where he thinks Voldemort might have taken Ron and Dawn - the Forbidden Forest you say?"
"I got a letter from Ron. It seems Iris found them."
Iris was perched on Dumbledore's desk and he pet her. "That's my girl. So, do you want to arrange a search party?"
"Yes. I'll go get Xander and Willow."
"Forgive me," Snape began, "Professor, but - are you sure that you should leave this job in the hands of a twenty year old girl and her friends?"
Dumbledore glanced at Buffy who was struggling to keep her temper in check.
"Forgive ME, Professor Snape, but I think you underestimate me. I'm the slayer. I've fought more demons then you could imagine in the course of a year, and I've been doing this for almost seven. My friends have been with me every step of the way, and they have proved on more then one occasion that they are fully capable.
"Now, you can help me, or you can get out of my way."
The two glared at each other and Snape stepped aside. Buffy walked out and closed the door behind her.
Dumbledore chuckled. "She's a brazen one, isn't she Severus?"
"Yes, well, I just hope that brazen nature doesn't get out students killed."
"Buffy has saved the world, multiple times in fact. What's rescuing two students compared to that?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dawn leaned her back against a tree. She sneezed.
"Ow - Oh, that hurts."
"How's the stomach?" Ron asked.
Dawn glanced down. "Been better." She leaned her head back. "You know what I wish?"
"No."
"I wish that I had listened to Buffy. I wish that I was still the innocent little teenager I thought I was before I found out I was the key. I wish I was mommy's little girl again, the kid with all the dreams she wanted to come true. I want that. I wish I could have that. I hated being on the outside all the time, looking in. I thought Buffy had it easy. But I was wrong. God, was I ever wrong. I'll be the death of me yet."
"Dawn." Ron put his hand on her arm. He had never heard her talk like this about her past. In fact, she usually changed the subject whenever he tried to break through that glass shell she had created around herself. It seemed like the glass was beginning to shatter now.
Dawn shook her head and sniffled. There was a long period of silence before Ron said, "They're not going to find us, are they?"
"Hey." Dawn put a hand on his cheek and kissed him. "They're going to find us. They WILL find us. Besides, I'm supposed to be the hopeless one here. You're supposed to be sympathizing with me."
Ron laughed and kissed her again. Dawn pulled away coughing. She groaned. "Ow....Ugh, I hope Buffy gets here soon so Pomfrey can fix me up. I feel like shit."
"You don't look so great either."
"Thanks a lot!" Dawn punched his arm and they both laughed.
Dawn heard a twig snap and she whipped her head around. "What was that?"
*Snap*
"Whatever it is, there's more then one."
*Snap*
"Stay here." Ron walked around the tree and followed the sound.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ouch! Xander, that was my foot!"
"Willow, you elbowed me."
"Sorry Xand."
"Will you two please keep it down? I heard something."
Buffy got into a fighting stance. "Who's there?"
"Yeah, because the big bad wolf will always answer the little piggies before he jumps out and kills them."
"Xander! Shush!"
"Buffy?" Buffy saw that the person in the shadows was actually Ron.
"Ron?"
"Yeah - Dawn's here too."
"Xander, Will, they're over there."
Buffy ran over to Dawn and hugged her.
"Ow! Watch the abs."
Buffy took a look at the wounds. "If I EVER get my hands on Voldemort and his cronies, I'm going to make Hiroshima look like child's play."
Xander gulped. "This is why we never mess with a slayer."
"C'mon Dawnie." Buffy put an arm around Dawn's shoulder and helped her stand. The five of them walked towards the castle.
A rat crept out from underneath the bushes and followed close behind them. Nobody noticed him.
:: Back To Jacy's Page ::
:: Back to Author's
Page ::
:: Slightly Over The
Edge ::