Glamours

Sorrow and Rage

"˜She was late,' Albus Dumbledore thought concernedly as he and the rest of the Order sat at the table he had enlarged to fit them all in his office. Indeed, it was 2 hours since the time they had previously agreed to meet. He was just about to send someone to check her quarters when he heard the staircase leading to his office begin to move. She was here.

He was shocked at her appearance though, Willow's face pale and veiny, her hair and eyes gone black from the negative energy she was channelling, and a hysterical, out of control look on her face.

Dumbledore, thinking that she had already gone to the pre-assigned meeting place Voldemort had sent that morning- Godric's Hollow, site of Harry's parents murder- drew his wand, the other members of the order following his lead and drawing their own as well. No one fired a curse yet. "Hello Willow, nice of you to join us. Are you alright?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice. He had talked to Harry that morning about the location and from what he had said, everything was going to be fine with the battle ahead of Willow. He had just assumed that Willow had sent Harry in her place, choosing to get some much-needed rest. Now, Dumbledore had a sickening feeling that something had happened that could put a damper on these positive thoughts. And he had a feeling it had to do with Harry.

"You tell me," she spat out angrily. "And no, I'm not alright, thanks so much for caring. What the fuck do you think you all were doing, encouraging him to do something like this?"

Albus looked non-plussed by her vehement expletive. He was confused though; why was she so angry and what had Harry done? "I'm sorry Willow, I don't understand."

"Of course you don't," Willow said in disgust, casually picking up a book that sat on his bookshelf on the Dark Arts. With a sigh of ecstasy, she drew the energy out of the book and smiled indulgently at Albus. "No, you don't know anything about the fact that Harry DRUGGED me and left to fight Voldemort on his own."

The silence of shock that Willow's last statement left in the room was deafening.

"You mean he"¦went off on his own? Without backup?" Ron's voice broke through the quiet that had pervaded the room.

Willow picked up a bigger, thicker tome and drew the magic out of that, shuddering at the influx of energy that shot into her body. "Yeah, left me a lovely note"¦." She said sarcastically, picking up yet another book from the Headmaster's bookshelf and drawing a piece of paper from her pocket. She whimpered as another burst of power came from the magic in the book, through to her already magic ridden body, and she dropped the note.

"Willow, what are doing?" Molly murmured. She had never seen Willow this way, not even when she had just arrived at the coven years ago. The woman in question just glared at her and moved onto the next book. Molly, who at this time was becoming greatly confused by Willow's behaviour (it did not follow the hysterical pattern that Mr. Giles had described her previous bought with the dark side), picked up the note and began to read.


My Dearest Willow,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this to you today. I am sorry for what I am about to do but I can't let you go through with this. I won't lose someone else and I'm not about to let you be eaten alive by whatever dark arts Voldemort will throw at you today. Please forgive me for what I'm about to do and remember, I love you and I always will.
-Harry


Molly looked up after reading it and met Minerva's eyes, shaking her head softly at Harry's actions before handing her the note. "Willow?"
She tried again, this time reaching a hand out to place it on her shoulder.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Willow roared at the woman who had helped to rehabilitate her years ago, a fireball gathering in her hands, unused.

"Stupefy!" several voices yelled, and curses went flying through the air.

"Thicken," Willow murmured in return, chuckling softly at their pitiful attempts to immobilize her before she hurt someone. She knew she wouldn't do that here. She was still using her head, unlike when Tara was killed.

"Where did he go?" Willow demanded, deadly calm. Indeed, Voldemort had told her that the final location for the confrontation would be owled to her by the Dark Lord himself. Harry unfortunately, had intercepted that owl when he had left her, passed out on the bed that morning.

"Willow, you're not yourself." Dumbledore started, beginning to get afraid.

"Bored now," she sing-songed before going to stand in front of the Headmaster. "Enough of this beating around the bush. I want an answer." Her rrogrrogation was interrupted by the arrival of Severus, who had just returned from a Death Eater Meeting. Fortunately for him, his services were not needed today. Apparently Voldemort wanted to bring Willow into the fold of his Death Eaters himself. He hadn't allowed anyone to accompany him. "There's the man of the hour now! What's up Sevvy? Made any Draught of the Living Dead lately?"

Severus paled slightly but pulled himself together before taking a seat at the table with the rest of the Order. She knew. "I don't know what you're talking about Willow."

She laughed bitterly before bending over at the table to look him in the eye. "Harry cannot make a good Draught of the Living Dead to save his life. I make the potions in this magical relationship. I haven't made any lately, haven't needed to fake my own death you know and besides," she pulled out the vial she had found next to the note. "This is your handwriting isn't it?"

Severus looked at the label he had forgotten to remove and inwardly cursed.

"By your silence, I'm gonna assume I'm right. Why'd you do it?" Willow asked, before flopping herself haphazardly down into the chair next to him.

Severus exchanged a worried glance with the Headmaster, who looked as interested in what he had to say as Willow did. "I agree with Harry and quite frankly, we can't lose you." She looked like she wanted to say something, the blackness in her eyes beginning to fade, but coming back with a vengeance as she listened to his next words. "I lost my best friend Lily Evans to Voldemort 22 years ago and I'm certainly not going to lose you too."

Willow was silent for a moment, processing. "If you care for me so much that you gave Harry a powerful potion to knock me out," her voice began to rise. "Then you will tell me where he is before I become a widow!"

A shocked gasp filled the room. "You two actually went through with it?!" Hermione demanded to know in a stunned voice.

Willow nodded in a distracted way. "Yeah. We did." She turned back to Severus. "Where is he?"

Severus stayed silent.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Willow roared once more, blue electricity running from her fingertips into her colleague's body, knocking the older man onto the floor before levitating him to the wall where he writhed in agony as the energy coursed through his body. Wands were suddenly drawn again and curses were flying towards the dark witch.

Willow, nonplussed by the Order's actions, merely waved her hand and the curses dissolved around the shield she had erected. The blue electricity she had been torturing Severus with suddenly stopped. With a silent moan, the man dropped to the ground, coughing but still alive. She dropped to the floor and tipped his head up. "I've flayed a man alive Severus and he didn't appear to like it. Fortunately, I enjoy you. You understand me most of the time and you play a mean game of chess. So I'll ask you once more before I haul out the ol' flaying skills. Where is he?"

"Godric's Hollow," Severus said in defeat. Willow smiled brightly.

"Now was that so hard?" She cooed. She took in the injuries she had caused him and pouted. "Poor baby. Better have Madam Pomfrey take care of that." She walked towards the door. No one moved to stop her. "Oh and Severus?" She turned to look at the man being helped up by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Draco. "If he dies, I'll never forgive you." And with that, she was gone.