Chapter Two - Foreign Changes
All things are changed. One mass of shade, / The elm-trees drop their curtains down; / By palace, park, and colonnade / I walk as in a foreign town.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "Moonlight"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dawn sat in her office at the WIL looking out the window thinking back on that first night back with Ron. That was two months ago. How could everything go so wrong in two months?
Dawn shook her head and willed the tears not to come. "Stop crying. You're not going to get anywhere by crying" She sighed and started fumbling with the papers on her desk.
There was a knock at her door. "Come on in. It's open"
Harry stepped in and shut the door behind him. "I got those files you wanted from Sirius"
Dawn jumped at the sudden sound of someone else in the room. "God, you're quiet. I didn't even hear the door open"
Harry shrugged. "Comes with the spy territory I suppose"
Dawn smiled wryly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you mean intelligence agent?"
"That's exactly what I said"
They both laughed quietly. Dawn stopped abruptly as Ron entered the room. He wordlessly put a file on her desk and walked back out, catching her eye for barely a millisecond.
Dawn groaned and put her head down on the desktop. "I really fucked up, Harry"
Harry sat down next to her. "He's not talking to me either. And Hermione barely looks at me, much less talks to me"
"At least she looks at you somewhat lovingly. If looks could kill, I'd be dead seven times over"
"Only seven?"
"Harry, I'm serious!" Dawn pushed her chair back a little more violently then she meant to and it hit the wall with a bang. She stood up and started pacing the room. "I mean, what were we thinking? Going off like that.....It was a disaster waiting to happen. God, WHY didn't I listen to Willow's warning?" Dawn leaned her head back against the door and closed her eyes. "I just want things to return to some sense of normalcy. I just want to be with him again" She played with the unicorn charm around her neck. "God, I'm such a fool"
Harry went to put hand on her shoulder, but thought better of it. He ran the same hand through his hair. "If anyone's the fool, it's me. I initiated it"
Dawn shook her head. "And I could have stopped you. And I tried. I really tried. I guess I was just caught up in the moment"
Harry sighed and Dawn looked up at him. "We can get through this, right? I mean - we'll figure out how to fix this. We have to"
Harry just shook his head. "I hope so" "I think it's safe to say that you don't know what you have until it's gone"
"He's not gone yet, Dawn"
Dawn shook her head and gazed down at the floor. "I think he is" She whispered.
A slam next door made both of them jump. Dawn heard the beep of the intercom on her desk.
"What is it?" Dawn asked.
"Harry, I need to speak with you. Could you come here for a moment?" Sirius sounded incredibly stressed about something.
Dawn glanced at Harry who just sighed with defeat. "I'm coming Sirius" 'Perfect....' He thought to himself.
Dawn sat down as Harry shut the door. She leaned her elbows on her knees and bent her forehead to meet her clasped hands.
"God, I want him to come back to me" She whispered, voice breaking. Dawn finally gave into her emotions and cried.
~* July 6 - Two months earlier *~
Harry saw Dawn in the kitchen getting breakfast. Knowing that this would probably be his only opportunity to get her alone, Harry walked in and stood next to her.
"I talked to Sirius. He said he could help"
Dawn looked up at him brightly. "Really?"
Harry nodded. "There's a training program I can coach you through that will help you gain a significant amount of control over your powers. Only, as with everything else - "
"Let me guess," Dawn said, pouring herself a cup of coffee, "Top secret?"
"Precisely. And yes, that includes Ron"
Dawn sighed. "They're going to think we're going off to have some lurid love affair"
"Nah, Sirius is covering for us. It'll be late at night. Ron and Hermione will never even notice that we're gone. It'll be fine"
Dawn grabbed her mug and a plate of breakfast. "I hope so" She shook her head and went into the dining room, sitting down next to Ron. Ron kissed her on the cheek. Dawn smiled and glanced up at Harry, who had come up behind Hermione and slipped his arms around her. 'Tonight' he mouthed in Dawn's direction. Dawn nodded.
Willow caught the exchange and arched an eyebrow in Sirius' direction, having a feeling that he knew more then he was letting on. Sirius shrugged and took a bite of his toast. Willow continued looking at him questioningly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dawn sat on the edge of her bed. She glanced at the clock - 12:30. Harry was supposed to have been there a half-hour ago.
The gang had decided to take a trip to the Bronze. Dawn faked a headache and stayed behind, knowing that Harry would come to "check up on her" at midnight when in actuality, he was coming to take her to her first training session. Dawn sighed and looked at the clock again, playing with her keys. 12:31
"Come on Harry.."
There was a knock at her door and Dawn got up and walked towards it, putting her jacket on.
"What the hell took you so long?" She said, frustrated.
"Sirius had to convince Hermione and Ron to stay behind. You think that was easy?"
Dawn sighed and walked with him down the stairs. "Why do I get the feeling that this is leading to disaster?"
Harry shrugged and closed the front door behind them. "Hell if I know"
~* Present *~
A knock at Dawn's door pulled her from her memories. She dried her eyes and took a few deep breaths before saying, "Come in"
Buffy walked in. "Hey"
Dawn smiled as best she could. "Hey"
"How you doing little sis?" Buffy said, leaning against the desk.
"I've been better, though I'm not quite sure if I've ever been worse"
Buffy nodded knowingly. "I'm sure. Well, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, we got an earlier time for the wedding, just like we wanted. It should be happening before noon"
Dawn nodded.
"And now for the bad news. And you have to promise not to freak out" Buffy said slowly.
"Why would I freak out?" Dawn asked standing.
Buffy took a breath. "We booked the rooms for the hotel the night before the wedding. And we put you and Ron together"
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Dawn, this was weeks ago! How were we supposed to know - "
"Alright! I get it!" Dawn sighed and ran her hands through her hair letting them rest at her neck.
"Maybe this is a good thing" Buffy said, putting a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Maybe you two can work things out"
"Maybe" She said sighing. "Maybe" The word came out no louder than a whisper.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"No, no, no. I repeat the word - NO"
Angel sighed frustrated. "Ron, you're not making this any easier on her"
"Easier on her? EASIER ON HER?! SHE'S the one who bloody - "
"Damnit, I know Ron!" Angel said, the stress of the past few days finally coming out in a single outburst. Anything that could have went wrong that week did go wrong - the church called saying they booked the wedding for the wrong date, the florist called saying they mis-calculated the amount for the flowers, and the Bridal shop called telling Buffy that the dress they ordered for Dawn came two sizes too small, and the one for Willow could have fit two of her. And now this...Angel was at the end of his rope.
"Sorry" Angel grumbled.
"It's fine. I just - " Ron sighed. "I just don't know how to handle this"
"It's perfectly natural Ron. Who does? But - just keep in mind. No matter what happened - she still loves you"
Ron shook his head. "I know...I know" 'And I still love her more then anything else in the world...Damnit Dawn, how could you be so blind?'
~* July 16 *~
Dawn was pacing the room frantically.
"It just doesn't make any sense Ron"
Ron went over to Dawn and put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from pacing. "It makes sense. It makes perfect sense. You said you've been having these dreams since May, right?"
Dawn nodded. She had finally come clean and told Ron about her dream with Harry's mom. Lily had become more insistent about Dawn "embracing her destiny", and it was getting to her more then anything else, including the daily dress fittings Buffy was putting her and Willow through as her maids of honor.
"So, it does make sense. You connected with Harry that day at Hogwarts, and the connection obviously stuck. Maybe you were meant to find that amulet all along"
Earlier that day, Harry and Ron went with Dawn to get a wand. She was told she would need it for her WIL training - not to mention the fact that it would help her focus the power of the Key. Things were getting easier, but she still felt the power wasn't under her control.
Dawn stepped into Olivander's and glanced around.
"Mr. Olivander?" Ron called.
Olivander stepped out and smiled at Ron. "Ah, Mr. Weasly. Back for another wand?"
Ron blushed slightly. "No. Actually, I'm here for my girlfriend, Dawn"
Dawn stepped up and Mr. Olivander shook her hand. "Nice to meet you"
Olivander shook his head. "No, no, no" He said calmly. "No wand for you"
Dawn blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I said, I don't have a wand for you. It's not a wand the Key needs, Ms. Summers" He leaned behind the counter and pulled out a box, handing it to a shocked Dawn. "It's this"
Dawn opened the box and gasped. Inside was a deep green oval amulet on a black chord.
"The Amulet of the Flower"
Dawn heard Harry inhale. Olivander smiled. "That's right Mr. Potter. This amulet contains three drops from the blood of a mage. Your mother's blood"
"How - What - I mean, how - " Dawn stuttered.
"How did I acquire it?" He said chuckling. "Fascinating story actually. Seems Lily discovered a certain prophecy concerning the key of glory and he born unto the flower and the stag. Knowing that one day the two would be connected, she created this so that the Key could control her power to help her son. Though I'm sure you were meant to receive it before the Final Battle"
Dawn nodded and glanced at Harry who had gone slightly pale. He looked at Ron, who was a little confused.
"I believe we have some explaining to do" Olivander said, a twinkle in his eye. "Good day to you"
And so Dawn explained her dream to Ron, who sat quietly and listened to her rant. He finally gave up and silenced her with a kiss.
Ron pulled away breathlessly and leaned his forehead against hers. "We can continue this discussion later. Right now, I have other things on my mind"
Dawn grinned and heard Ron mutter a locking spell on her bedroom door.
~* Present *~
"Ron? Ron?"
Angel's voice snapped Ron back into the present.
"Sorry Angel. What was that?"
"Sirius just intercommed you. Said he needs to see you in his office"
Ron nodded and walked out. He glanced up and took a breath. Buffy was headed down the hall, Dawn in tow behind her. Dawn's face mirrored his own.
"What does Sirius want?" Ron asked Dawn, who was snapped out of her thoughts.
"Uh...he wants to introduce us to someone. A new agent, I think" Dawn answered slowly.
Ron nodded. Buffy and Angel glanced at each other and then at Ron and Dawn.
"I think it's time for us to leave" Buffy said. "We have another appointment with the caterer in twenty minutes. I'll see you two back at the house?"
They nodded.
Buffy slipped her arm around Angel and they walked away. Dawn and Ron headed off silently in the other direction towards Sirius' office.
They stepped in and the first thing Dawn noticed was the look of confusion on both Harry and Hermione's faces. The four of them spaced themselves away from each other as much as possible.
"Good" Sirius said. "You're all here. I have a few things I need to discuss with you. One, if someone doesn't cut this thread of frustration and resentment between all of you, I'm going to do it myself" Dawn caught Hermione's eye and then turned her eyes away guiltily.
"And second, I want to introduce a new agent on The Copycat Case"
"The Copycat Case?" Harry asked. "But - you said that was dropped days ago"
The Copycat Case was the code name for a new problem the WIL had been called in to deal with. One of Voldemort's followers, determined to carry on his legacy, had started killing Muggle-borns and gathering followers almost as fast as Voldemort himself had. The WIL was called in to deal with it, but the case was dropped when the Copycat seemed to drop off the face of the earth. That was almost a week ago.
"Well, our Copycat seems to have struck again" Sirius said sullenly, handing Dawn a copy of the Daily Prophet.
Dawn skimmed the front-page article and let out a small gasp. "No.."
"Dawn?" Hermione asked. "What is it?"
"The woman...who was killed...I know her. She was the wife of...someone I know"
"Then you won't be too surprised that I've asked a particular agent to join the case" Sirius said. "Come on in" He called at the door.
A man, about six feet tall, stepped in. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. Dawns eyes widened.
"Hermione, Ron, Harry, Dawn, this is Agent - "
Dawn gasped. "RILEY?!"
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