Consequences

AN - I clearly ticked off my muse by not letting them go at it like bunnies in the last chapter. It'll never happen again. LOL

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The next morning at breakfast, Harry pulled Ginny and Ron aside after she and Draco had shared a slightly edited version of what had happened the previous evening. "What's up, Harry?" Ginny asked impatiently once he'd led them down to the lake. Draco was jumpy as an overcaffeinated house elf that morning and she didn't like letting him out of her sight.

"I just didn't wanna upset Draco more than he is, and Hermione doesn't want to talk about it to anyone," Harry sighed heavily. 

"What is it, mate?" Ron asked curiously. He kept glancing up at the courtyard where Luna, Hermione and Draco were staring into the fountain. Well, Draco was staring into the fountain, Hermione was alternating between the fountain and Draco. Luna was currently looking at Ron, with occasional brief glances at the fountain. 

"You know how I told you I'd dreamed about...well...how you said I died?" Harry asked reluctantly. 

Ginny shivered, feeling like someone had poured a tiny trickle of ice water down her spine. "Yeah?"

"I've had that dream like three times since we came back to school," Harry muttered. "And I know Hermione 's been having nightmares since we got back, too. She keeps rubbing her forehead and chest and moaning. Last night she woke up screaming twice."

Ron's eyebrows crept up into his hairline. "Three times? We've only been here two nights, mate."

"I know," Harry replied tightly. "There's more...when I woke up this morning, both my shoulders ached like crazy. Didn't you say..."

"Quidditch try outs. You're probably just sore from Quidditch try outs," Ginny interrupted quickly. 

"What?" Harry asked confusedly. 

Ron snorted, "Right...from all those midair pull ups he was doing to impress Hermione..." Ginny raised an eyebrow, and he snorted again, scornfully. "Harry's not bloody McLaggen; and you know as well as anyone that Quidditch doesn't make your shoulders ache. At least not Seekers..." he mumbled, gingerly rubbing his right shoulder.

"What the hell is going on you guys?!" Harry exploded suddenly. Pacing back and forth, he began muttering about dreams and dementors, Dolohov and Narcissa. Ginny and Ron glanced at each other as their friend got more and more wound up. "And what is up with Remus?!"

"Huh?" As far as she knew, neither she or Ron had mentioned their weird visions of Remus and Tonks to anyone.

"Didn't he...wasn't he dead?" Harry asked confusedly. "You never told me you saved him, too."

"We didn't, mate," Ron shrugged uncertainly. "Why do you say that?"

"Every time I walk through the courtyard, I picture him and Tonks lying there," Harry grimaced. Clutching fistfuls of hair, he let out a low, frustrated scream. "Since we came back, I'm starting to feel like I'm going crazy!"

"Maybe it's just being here...seeing where it all happened," Ginny began gently.

"I'm not remembering shit that actually happened, Ginny!" Harry snapped. "I'm not dreaming about fighting Voldemort...that would make sense. I'm remembering dying, and now I'm starting to feel it too? What the hell..." he trailed off, looking just as terrified and miserable as he had when Ginny had watched his final memories of his death back in May. The ice water sensation turned from a trickle to a full on deluge, and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. 

"We'll figure it out, Harry," Ron's voice cracked the way it still did sometimes when he was scared or upset. Just then the bell rang to signal that it was time to head to their first class, Potions.

"C'mon, Harry," Ginny urged quietly. "Draco wrote to Kingsley about what happened last night. He'll help us figure this out. We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise."

The three dragged themselves back to the courtyard where they joined the others. Ginny noticed that even Luna's eyes darted to the spot where she thought she'd seen the Lupins lying dead. 

Draco, Harry and Hermione were all subdued during Potions, despite the fact that it was one of their favorite classes since Slughorn had taken over. Even the rather bubbly professor couldn't shake them out of their funk. After the third time he caught Draco not paying attention, he reluctantly took 5 points from "Whatever" and assigned them all a two foot essay on the side effects of Polyjuice. 

Upon hearing this, Harry slammed his book shut and stomped out the door, leaving all of his things scattered across the table he shared with Hermione.

"Oh my," Slughorn murmured as Hermione gathered up her boyfriends books and parchment, shoved them in his backpack and raced to catch up with him, forgetting her own belongings in the process. "Was it something I said?"

Draco slowly let his head fall to the desk in front of him, the soft 'thunk' seeming to echo in the sudden silence of the classroom. 

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"Coming back...great idea, Gin," Ron muttered as they made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts ten minutes later. "What the hell does she have in here?" he added, hefting Hermione's bag back onto his shoulder for the tenth time. "If Harry's been carrying her books, that would explain why his shoulders hurt," he joked weakly.

"Har har," Draco muttered irritably. 

"You're all acting like someone died," Luna commented casually as they walked into the DADA classroom.

"They did, Lu," Ginny mumbled, frowning when she noticed Harry and Hermione weren't there.

"Was it Professor Lupin?" Luna asked loudly. "It feels like he died..." she added in a slightly lower voice, which wasn't saying much.

"You are the fourth person to make a similar comment this morning alone, Miss Lovegood." They all jumped and spun around as the Professor in question spoke up behind them. "Is there something I should know?"

Ginny caught Ron's eye and shook her head slightly. Kingsley would probably have a cow if they discussed everything with someone else before him. Her family knew what had happened, but Draco had never told his aunt or cousin about what happened that day. He certainly hadn't told Remus.

"Um, no," Ron tried to act confused by the question and Remus immediately frowned suspiciously.

"If there's anything you need to talk about, I'm always here for you, you know that, right?" He focused on Draco, who looked away guiltily. "Draco, your aunt would kill me if something's going on and I didn't try to help..." Ginny flinched at his words and he turned to gaze at her intently

Draco hesitated, then moved closer, lowering his voice. "Can we talk to you this afternoon? We have a free period after lunch."

"Meet me back here after lunch then." Remus appeared to have mixed feelings about Draco's request. Probably because he'd basically confirmed that something was wrong.

They all moved to their seats without further discussion. Ginny smiled when Ron deliberately sat on the other side of Luna rather than beside Draco like he had in several classes the day before. Harry and Hermione finally stumbled in just as the bell rang to indicate the start of class, and for once, they didn't look like they'd just shagged in a broom closet. Harry was pale and Hermione's eyes were red. Ginny exchanged another long look with her brother as Remus began his lecture.

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"This is bullshit!" Draco exclaimed as he and Ginny entered his room after a very disorganized Quidditch practice that afternoon. Madam Hooch had come up with the bright idea to let the new teams scrimmage against each other, again in hopes of improving inter-house relations. It had been a minor disaster. Everyone kept forgetting who was on their team, and eventually a fight broke out between a former Ravenclaw and Theodore Nott. They were on the same team. Hooch had ended the farce of a practice early in disgust. 

"Do you mean Quidditch, or..." Ginny asked hesitantly. 

"Kingsley!" Draco snapped. He'd received an owl at lunch, but the Minister had responded that as far as the Ministry was concerned, nothing had happened on May 2nd other than Dolohov murdering Lucius Malfoy, attempting to murder Draco and Hermione, and attempting to have Harry falsely imprisoned. The time turner was "not involved". In response to Draco's concerns about his mother, Narcissa had finally been added to the bottom of the Ministry's very long list of people who had gone missing in the war. "He's just covering his own ass!" Draco yelled. "We should have known he'd blow us off...he even told you back then that the whole thing was off the record." Growling, he took off his gloves and threw them in the corner.

Ginny grabbed his shoulders and forced him to face her, "Draco, we'll find out what happen to her. You know Remus will help. Kingsley might be a member of the Order, but he doesn't control it. I think his reluctance to help is only in an official capacity anyway. He said he can't officially order the Aurors to look for her...but he didn't say you couldn't ask Tonks."

"You're right," Draco sighed heavily. "At least we found out why everyone remembers seeing Tonks and Remus dead," he chuckled ruefully. "Why the hell would someone hit them with a sleep spell in the middle of a battle like that and then not finish them off?"

"Maybe it was someone on our side? For their own protection?" Ginny suggested quietly. "The Death Eaters weren't likely to attack someone they thought was already dead."

"I guess," Draco shrugged. Rubbing his face with both hands, he exhaled slowly, then looked over at her with a sly smile. "So...about that shower we missed yesterday..." he murmured, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he stalked toward her.

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AN - I'm fully aware that the excuse that the Lupins were hit by a sleep spell doesn't make sense. Please be patient. ;-)