Chapter Eight - Love and Lies

I feel my wings have broken in your hands / I feel the words unspoken inside / When they pull you under / And I would give you any thing you want / You were all I wanted / All my dreams are fallin' down / Crawlin' around

--Remy Zero - "Save Me"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"She's gone. She - she was here. And now she's gone."

"Ron, please calm down." Hermione said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Dawn had been gone about an hour, and Ron was only beginning to think of the many ways he could inflict pain on the person who took her if she was hurt.

"How could I say that to her 'Mione? The words just flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. I love her and now I might have gotten her killed - "

"Don't Ron." Harry said. "I'm just as much at fault here as you are."

"Look, this is nobody's fault!" Hermione scolded. "And if you two would quit feeling sorry for yourselves, we'd be able to figure something out. We can discuss this later. Right now, we have to put our heads together and figure this out."

Buffy was amazed. She knew better then to underestimate Hermione, but even now, she seemed so much older then she really was and so much more mature.

"Hermione's right." Buffy said. "This was obviously a magical attack, since the two of them just disappeared - "

"Which means this is out of your line of work." Willow stated.

Buffy just looked at her. "Willow, Dawn's my little sister. I'm going with them."

"And it'll just make things worse. Buffy, they're trained to do stuff like this. The most we can do is have their backs. We'd just be extra baggage."

"But - "

"Willow's right." Angel added. "The most we can do is help them out. We can't kill anyone, or at least you can't."

"This is insane!" Buffy said, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm the slayer. This is my job. That's my sister. I WANT to HELP."

"And you will Buffy." Willow said, putting a hand on her arm. "Just not the way that you want. They'll need us waiting on the sidelines, not playing in the game. Do you understand?"

Buffy looked at Harry and Hermione, who seemed to agree with Willow. She sagged with defeat. "Alright. I'll stay. But if ANYTHING goes wrong, I want to know."

Harry nodded. "I'll go speak with Sirius." He walked over to a clearing near the Shrieking Shack.

Hermione rocked back and forth on her heels, looked towards the clearing, bit her lip, and looked at Ron, who nodded. Hermione walked after him.

"Harry!"

Harry's shoulders tensed and he turned around. "Yes Hermione?"

Hermione walked up to him and just looked into his eyes. "I love you Harry. I can't do this anymore. I miss you. I want you back so much, but - I don't know if I can trust you."

"Hermione, I - "

Hermione held up a hand. "Wait. Let me finish. I want to trust you. I do. But - I don't know if I can forgive her." She looked up into his eyes, her own eyes shining with tears. "Don't you love me?"

Harry felt tears welling up in his own eyes, and he swallowed, trying to force them away. "You don't know how much it hurts to hear you ask that. I love you. I love you more then you'll ever know and knowing that I've made you doubt that makes me feel like - "

"Shh..." The tears were steadily falling down Hermione's cheeks as she lifted a hand to his cheek to brush away a single tear.

"I love you." She threw her arms around Harry and hugged him. He buried his face in her shoulder. They stood there like that for a few minutes before Hermione pulled away. "Go. I'll still be here when you get back. I promise."

Harry completely pulled away and said "I love you too," before apparating away.

Hermione stood there, watching the space where Harry had been. Ron came up behind her and put his arms around her. She leaned back into his chest. "I couldn't do it anymore, Ron. I love him. I need him back in my arms."

"I know." Ron leaned his head on top of hers. "I know."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Alright. I understand what's going on, really I do. But do I REALLY need to send all three of my best spies out to do this job? With the slayer no less." Sirius asked sighing.

"If you want this done quickly - yes. Remember, this is the Copycat we're talking about here, and he wants they Key. Desperately. And he'll do anything in his power to get it."

Sirius sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Remind me again why I took this job?"

"Because you just HAD to be close to your godson twenty-four seven?"

Sirius snorted. "Don't get your hopes up."

Harry laughed.

It was days like this Sirius wished someone else had taken the job so that he could just sit back and worry for a while. That's when he noticed it. Harry - the Harry that had been moping around for weeks - was LAUGHING?

"You and Hermione got back together didn't you?"

Harry shifted slightly. "Yeah, you could say that, but we were talking about rescuing Dawn here. A bit more important then my love life."

"Right. Alright, I'm approving the mission."

"Thank you."

"But, and this is a big but - if you're not back in three days, three days Harry, I'm sending in the calvary. I'm not putting three of my best agents in jeopardy for any longer then that, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Harry stood up and started to walk out.

"Harry?"

Harry turned around.

"Be careful."



"Aren't I always?"

"No, and that's the problem."

Harry shook his head as he walked out. Sirius sank down into his chair and intercommed the main desk. "Neville? Yeah, please come up here with something resembling good news. I could use some."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

'I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry.'

Dawn was sitting with her head against the wall taking a few deep breaths.

Riley had paid a visit before, and it was he who pulled a wand on her, he who cast the spell for the Cruciatus Curse. It hurt almost as much as the killing curse had.

Almost.

That was probably an hour ago, and Dawn was still feeling the aftermath. Her head was pounding, and her muscles kept tensing up. She didn't think her legs could hold her up, even if she wanted them to.

Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she were anywhere else.

'The only thing I'll ever regret is falling in love with you.'

The words repeated themselves over and over again in her mind like a broken record until she swore she was hearing them aloud.

'Wait a second.'

"The only thing I'll ever regret is falling in love with you."

Dawn opened her eyes and saw Ron standing in front of her, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

"Ron?" She had to be imagining things. This had to be a dream.

"You betrayed me Dawn." More like a nightmare. "I loved you and you just left me - and for my fucking best friend no less." There was no sign of love or remorse in his voice.

"Ron, please - " she pleaded.

"No, I don't want to hear it!" He yelled.

Dawn noticed a wand in his hand. She looked up at him. "Don't."

"Why? I want you to feel the same pain that you caused me." Ron pointed his wand at her.

"Crucio."

Dawn didn't hold it in any longer - she screamed.

Somewhere through the pain and the tears, she heard someone laughing behind Ron, laughing at the pain she was in.

It was Harry.

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