Never A Memory

A/N: A special heartfelt thank you to Manga Cat, Bubba, and George for helping me with translations and keys to certain parts of the Roman Ritual of Exorcism. Translations for Latin and German lines at the end of the chapter.


~Are You Ready to Make Your Confession?~


The wind howled angrily in his ears as Harry stared wildly at his partner, Ron, who was screaming something at him.

"What?!" Harry shouted back, his arm straining under the pressure of his wand, where a spell was aiding the other Aurors to keep the worst of the Plagues towards the top of the Dome. Ron's lips parted again, forming words that were ripped from his freckled mouth the second he produced them.

Ron grimaced, his extended arm twisting unnaturally under the pressure of his own wand as he flung out his other arm to gesture behind Harry. Harry turned, following Ron's pointing finger. A dark cloud of approaching Wizards and Witches, lead by Headmistress McGonagall, had reached the lake's border, and were flying swiftly towards the Dome on brooms.

Harry charged up his wandless magic, allowing its raw energy to shield him from the flies and lice and locusts that threatened to overwhelm their task force, and pocketed his wand. He ran over to Anin, pulling at the man's collar so he could holler directly into the older man's ear. "Reinforcements are here! Keep them out of the Dome! Maul's radius is widening but he won't be able to reach the edge of the lake! The I.E. has thirty minutes! I repeat, thirty minutes! Have them control the outer perimeter from the Plagues until then!"

Anin twisted in Harry's grip, glancing behind him as their reinforcements made their approach, and then back at Harry. "You're certain they'll disappear once the potion activates?!" Anin shouted.

Harry looked up at the roof of the Dome, where the entire Auror's Division--and then some--had been working laboriously to keep the frogs, insects, fire and ice isolated. Outside the Dome, it was a different matter. Boils and lice attacked humans with a vengeance, livestock seemed to wither from the inside out, the day was black as a moonless night, lighting and hail crashed around them in a rainless storm, and parts of the lake were thick and red with blood...and it was spreading. And so too, the length of Maul's power.

Maul.

Harry looked with blazing eyes towards the center of the Dome where Draco stood amidst the swirling winds of raw and ancient power, his eyes wide, pitless pools of utter black. Harry tore his gaze away, finding, at last, Father Ernst Alt, who circled the perimeter like a lion stalking its prey, shouting prayers in an ancient tongue while clutching a small black book. His white priest's robes swirled around his bony frame, a purple stole whipping around his shoulders...and like he had predicted, the exorcist was unaffected by the plagues that Maul spat towards them.

So then...

Harry chewed on his lower lip as the wind hurled their robes around and fingered violently through their hair, screaming its passage in their ears. He glanced once back at Anin, nodding curtly. "Yes, I'm certain."

"Very good, sir!" Anin affirmed before jerking at his amulet and exiting the Dome.

Harry raised his wand again, adding to the restrictive pressure of the topmost part of the Dome, and spared a glare in Maul's direction. Maul, using Draco's lips, smiled cruelly.

Harry knew that smile. Harry loved that smile. Rage burned in his chest as he tore his eyes away, once again, from Draco Malfoy's figure.

Don't get used to it, Maul. In half an hour, you'll never know what it is to possess him again. I am going to rip your bloody heart out.

~*~

Eleven and a half hours prior...
The Ministry of Magic...
***

Harry waited in the foyer with Draco's four-Auror guard--at the present: Anin, Heroth, Saith, and Marim--as the blond Slytherin used his last precious seconds of isolation to gather his nerve in the Minister's Suite. When the pale, pointed Wizard finally stepped out into the foyer, dressed, appropriately, all in black, Draco's face was the perfect mask of resolve.

And dignity.

But as Harry looked up into his lover's eyes, checking to make sure they were still that perfect, icy grey, something passed behind them and the young Auror knew better. Draco looked away first.

What could Harry possibly say? What could either of them say?

So, amidst a heavy silence, Anin and Heroth filed behind Harry Potter, then the soon-to-be-exorcised Draco Malfoy, and finally Saith and Marim behind him. Then, they stepped out into the hall.

Ronald Weasley was waiting for them. Ron was supposed to be awaiting their arrival at the location of the Portkey, but, strangely, Harry took comfort in his best mate's presence and did not rebuke him. When all was said and done, Ron had good instincts on when to be at his partner's side and when to let be. Now, even though Harry was certain Ron couldn't possibly know exactly why, this was a definite moment when he needed his best mate's steady presence at his shoulder.

Quietly, Ron stepped in beside Harry and the column made their way down the hall.

Their steps seemed to drag and time seemed to slow; though, in Harry's mind's eye, everything around them seemed rush past them. Harry could hear his very breath like the loud hum of a car engine clanging through his head and every footstep seemed to ricochet off of the walls around them. And the only thing he could think of was the two, piercing grey eyes that bore into the back of his neck, burning holes into him.

The Portkey was an oil lamp, placed inconspicuously on a seemingly random table in one seemingly unimportant hall near the Department of Mysteries. Luna Lovegood stood by the table, marking its spot. Her eyes were luminous but intensely grave and she seemed to shine like a slender beacon in the dark hall. Harry Potter remembered that look. Luna wore it many times during the war.

Luna Lovegood was a dreamer...but she did not always dream. She knew when her world and everyone else's collided into a heavy moment of severity. This was one such moment. Harry took comfort in her presence too.

She was looking past him, smiling gravely at Draco.

Anin and Heroth parted before Draco, allowing him to step up to the Portkey. Without hesitating, Draco reached out one slender hand and laid his finger tips gently on the oil lamp. Luna nodded slowly and placed a hand on Draco's shoulder, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"The name of the game is 'Guilt'," Luna said in a voice so soft, even Draco could barely hear. "Nobility isn't about being better than others; it is about being better than you used to be. Do not play."

A great deal of Draco's demeanor slipped, allowing him to look intensely shocked by Luna's words, and he favored her with wide eyes. Instantly, however, he regained his composure and Luna stepped away. She turned her grave smile on Harry and Ron, and the Head Aurors stepped up to touch the Portkey.

After a slow minute, the world lurched around them and suddenly the three Wizards were spiraling down a whirling vacuum and dropped unceremoniously in the middle of...nowhere.

Except, a great many Aurors were present. Hermione Granger and Severus Snape were there too. And so too was Minister Scrimgeour, Mary Heart, and Father Ernst Alt.

Four Aurors stepped in close, surrounding Draco Malfoy as Harry and Ron left to speak to the Minister. Draco took in the faces of his guard, a part of him not wanting to recognize them, a bigger part needing to know who he might be responsible for. Mackle, Denon, Liv, and Viggo. Good men, sturdy men. Innocent men.

Draco swallowed and looked around him, taking in the landscape and trying to figure out where he was. It was a vast valley of sorts, with a broad lake directly east of them and a fringe border of trees to the south and west. To the north, jagged rocks of a sloping mountain stretched up. However, the plain seemed to stretch for kilometers before reaching any of these. Draco's eyes wandered back towards the lake. He squinted. Was that--?

"There's a what?" Harry suddenly shouted. Clenching his fists, Harry ran a hand roughly through his hair. "Can they be evacuated in time?"

"It will draw too much attention," Hermione said, worrying at her lip and handing Harry the charmed medallion that would allow him to enter and exit the Dome at whim. "If anyone catches so much as a whiff of the Ministry removing Muggles from a remote area, Harry, you better believe Wizards and Witches will be swarming this area to get a glimpse of Malfoy."

"Then we'll have a real problem," Ron muttered sarcastically, earning a withering glare from his fiancée.

"The Dome will keep the operation hidden," the Minister said in an uncertain tone.

Father alt shook his head. "If Maul is antagonized, he will wreak out his power. No Dome will restrict it under its roof...and even if you could construct one in time, it is unwise to bottle the Plagues into the sole area reserved for an exorcism."

Harry gaped at him for a moment, wondering if the priest had just made an attempt at humor. Harry shook his head. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Ron, get someone--"

"Who?"

"Anyone to cast silence spells all around the perimeter..." Harry pulled out a map from his back pocket. "Here...and here; making sure that the Muggles in their resort remain oblivious. Priest, will Maul's power be one set radius, or will it slowly grow?"

"It will grow," Father Alt replied. "Maul will most likely wish to destroy the Dome, as it is designed to cage him after being expelled from Malfoy's body. But...His Gatherer was supposed to aid Him and failed...and He has been trapped under the Markaghirelle for a long time...He will become stronger as each of his Plagues are presented. I would suggest timing them."

Harry chewed on the inside of his lip, staring hard at the exorcist. Ron looked between them. "I think it'd be best not to antagonize him, eh?"

Harry and Alt slowly looked over at Ron. Ron raised his brows and looked back. Harry and Alt glanced at one another.

"The Inversion Enchantratem will not begin to work for another twelve hours," Harry said, glancing over his shoulder at Draco who was listening closely amidst his four-Auror guard. "During that time, for what reasons would Maul be antagonized?"

Alt regarded the young Auror with heavy eyes. "Other than His reading of His Host's thoughts and the mere presence of an exorcist nearby?"

Harry nodded impatiently. "Yes."

Father Alt thought for a moment. "The possessed must step into the grace of God."

Harry's dark brows rose high on his forehead. "Sorry?"

The old priest stepped up close to Harry, bending his head to speak directly into his ear. "According to my faith, I may not exorcise a non-believer. According to my faith, it is impossible to rid a demon from the body of a sinner. He must be forgiven by the grace of God before I can perform the holy ritual."

"He's a Wizard!" Harry spat incredulously.

"This I know, young magician," Father Alt replied, ever the patient one. "I will not ask that he convert to Catholicism...but I will request that he at least confess his sins to God. And if he is forgiven..." Alt shrugged. "We will see."

"We will see what?"

"We will see if he is freed."

Harry stared hard at the priest, his face scant inches from his own. "And this would antagonize Maul?"

"Assuredly."

Harry ran his hands blindly over his face as the priest stepped back but froze when he heard Draco's voice behind him: "I'll do it, priest. I'll confess."

Everyone turned and the world seemed to come to a hush all around them. Draco lifted his chin. "I'll confess," he repeated.

Dignity. Resolve.

Harry looked into his eyes. Utter rubbish. The eastern sun began to peek over the horizon. Harry checked his watch. 6 a.m.

It was time for Draco to take the Inversion Enchantratem.

Draco watched with sad eyes as Harry's face took on a look he'd never seen on him before. The youthful light left his eyes, a strange hard line formed around his mouth, and the muscles in his back turned stiff and rigid as Harry began barking orders to those around him. In a flurry of motion, Aurors began taking formation around the inner and outer perimeters of the Dome--which, before this moment, had been invisible, but now had begun to turn an opaque-ish white--and Draco was ushered to its center. After a few minutes, Harry approached him with a small vile held in his right hand, his eyes downcast and hidden by the dark fringe of his messy hair.

With a jerky movement of his arm, he offered the bottle to Draco.

In a strange sense, even though they were surrounded by Aurors and Ministry officials--and even a priest--they felt like no one was there but them because every one else skirted the edge of the Dome, a full kilometer and a half radius. Draco took the bottle and drank from it, the liquid tasteless and odorless.

He felt nothing.

"Father Alt will not approach you until noon," Harry said in a soft voice, his eyes still averted. "In this way, we'll have a better chance of controlling the Plagues before the potion takes affect. Ten Plagues, six hours..." Harry's voice trailed off.

Draco handed back the vile. "Well then."

"Well then," Harry echoed. Harry had the most horrible feeling that there was something being left unsaid. As he snapped his fingers and Draco's guard came forward, Harry hoped that, in the next six hours, he would be able to figure out what it was.

~*~

For the first two hours, Draco remained on his feet at the center of his four-Auror guard in the middle of the Dome, watching with guarded eyes as Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley paced around the edge of the Dome, barking orders in commanding tones, casting protective spell, and checking to make sure all their plans were in order.

At the beginning of the third hour, Draco began eyeing the grass at his feet, not exactly relishing in the idea of sitting on it and soiling the backside of his pants, but even less thrilled with the idea of standing at attention for the next four hours.

By the fourth hour, Draco was seated on the grass and sneering. His look of utter discontent was directed mostly at himself. He was incredibly bored. The minutes that dragged by eroded his imminent fear as they passed and he found himself disappointed at the lack of excitement as this day of days wore on.

Of course, Draco knew that if Harry had his way, the entire day would be like this. But, no; this was simply the calm before the storm.

At the start of the fifth hour, Draco’s heart began to pound. Frowning, he scolded himself silently, willing his heart beat to slow. Hermione Granger and his godfather, Severus Snape, approached with a small vile, a potion of nutrients. Draco declined the offer, opting to fast instead. Because he offered no explanation and remained seated, they eventually went away.

Now, the minutes were slipping by more quickly, and Draco had to force himself to be still lest he begin to squirm. Draco rested his hands on his knees and closed his eyes. He breathed in and out slowly, willing himself not to think, but just to feel.

And then, almost instantly, it was noon. Draco’s eyes snapped open and the snake inside of him lifted its head, hissing a warning. Harry and the priest were approaching. The young Auror made a small, jerky movement with his hand and his guard retreated to the perimeter of the Dome as Draco rose to his feet.

Father Alt paused at one point and Harry kept moving forward, his brilliant eyes shadowed and guarded. The priest remained where he was, giving them a little space.

The snake inside of him began to hiss again, whispering malice against his soul, and Draco’s heart began to pound once more. Harry stood in front of him and Draco pressed into his lover’s mind, trying to get a sense of why Harry wouldn’t look at him still.

Fear. Anger. Draco pulled back. Raw emotions, powerful enough to guard the young Auror’s thoughts, but Draco could guess well enough what they were.

Harry looked up into his eyes suddenly, a terrible love shining forth with blinding brilliance of the sun. Draco wanted to look away but couldn’t.

“Are you ready?” Harry whispered.

Draco laughed softly, the sound bitter and dry like the rustling of autumn leaves. “No.”

The hard white line around Harry’s mouth softened slightly. Harry lifted a hand and ran his fingertips along the pointed line of Draco’s jaw, emotions swimming behind his green eyes that Draco had no names for.

The snake inside him hissed again.

Abruptly, Harry looked startled. “I forgive you,” the young Auror said as if he had just had an epiphany, his eyes full of wonder, the hard line around his mouth disappearing altogether.

Draco blinked at him. “I didn’t ask for your forgiveness, Auror.”

Harry glanced behind him, briefly, at Father Alt and then looked back at Draco, the same look of wonder in his eyes. The snake stirred, Draco pushed it away.

“No,” Harry agreed, running his thumb over Draco’s cheekbone. “But sometimes it’s good to forgive even if it is not requested.”

Draco searched his gaze, trying to decide if this was some sort of riddle. But Harry Potter was too honest and abrupt to confuse him with riddles now. Whatever he meant, it meant a great deal to him. Draco nodded and leant his forehead against Harry’s, charging up their connection through the Horcrux Scar, allowing the energy to sweep through them, allotting them a strength neither felt they had. “Remember this,” Draco whispered.

“You’ll never be just a memory, Draco,” Harry whispered back with conviction. “Never a memory. I’m going to get you out of this alive. I swear it.”

Then, Harry sealed his oath with a firm, hard kiss, turned on his heel, and returned to the border, leaving Draco to stare in his wake as the priest made his approach.

“Are you ready to make your confession?”

Draco turned to the exorcist and nodded.

~*~

Harry watched from the Dome’s perimeter as Father Alt sprinkled his lover with holy water and laid one hand on his shoulder and the other on his forehead, covering his lightning bolt scar with one palm.

Then Father Alt stepped away and said a few words. Draco then opened his mouth and began to speak. Everyone was too far away to hear what he said, but Harry could see his mouth moving. He spoke for many minutes and Father Alt listened intently, a passive look splayed across his wrinkled features.

Then, Draco paused and closed his eyes. Then his mouth was moving again and suddenly Harry was swamped with sorrow. It coursed through in surging sweeps. Then there was anger and bitterness and grief. Each feeling swept through him violently, one replacing the other, as Draco confessed his sins, one by one, a kilometer away. Then they merged and collided, causing Harry to sway on his feet. There a blinding sense of hate as a harsh gust passed through the plain on swift wings. Harry shivered in his robe as he braced himself against the onslaught of hate and envy and guilt that attacked him, again and again, over and over.

Someone was shaking his shoulder and Harry had to forcibly close his mind to his connection to Draco in order to register who was speaking to him. It was Ron and he was pointing to the lake. Another gust of wind. There thunderheads gathering on the horizon.

And there, at the edge of the lake closest to the dome, was a strange red semi-cicle on the water right off of the shore line.

Harry whirled back to the center of the Dome, his eyes wide. Draco’s black robes whipped around his slender form and Father Alt was speaking to him in a low voice, backing away slowly with each step.

Draco’s eyes were utterly black. Draco opened his mouth and the winds swirled around him as words thundered past his lips.

“Quid tum?”

Those black eyes searched the field, is terrible gaze taking in the Dome that caged him and the sorcerers who held him in it. Maul curled Draco’s lips into a nasty smile.

”Etsi hoc corpus morietur, tamen ego perseverabo.” His words shook the Dome and everyone within took a step back, wands at the ready.

He turned that awful smile and those black, abysmal eyes on Harry Potter and the young Auror had to fight not flinch against his stare. True, he was physically far away, but his presence was everywhere. And it was oppressive.

Those black eyes glittered with malice and malcontent.

“Per quamque solutionem problema est…

Harry narrowed his eyes, anger burning in his chest. “Not this problem!” Harry shouted.

There was a stilling in the gusting winds and then a sound like laughter, but it rumbled like thunder and shook the very earth beneath their feet. ”Innocentia mortua est…”

“Maybe so,” Harry murmured, closing his eyes briefly and seeing Draco’s sad, piercing grey eyes. “None of us has been innocent for a long, long time.” He didn’t need to shout this time; he knew Maul could hear him.

The gusts swirled closer to Draco’s form and it seemed as if Maul was thinking. Then, his black, bottomless eyes seemed to brighten and the thunderous laughter returned.

”Anima mala,” Maul said with an evil grin.

Somewhere near Harry’s left, Aurors were scrambling. Someone exclaimed: “its blood! The red in the water; its blood!” Father Alt was running towards him, his mouth moving frantically, forming words that the buzz in Harry’s mind drowned out.

“No…” Harry breathed. “No, his soul is not evil. You’re wrong.”

The laughter again. The buzzing in his head was getting louder.

”Benedice parvulum qui pro maiestate desinatus est!”

Father Alt is shaking Harry violently, shouting at him, his hot breath on his cheek.

”Benedice parvulum qui pro maiestate desinatus est!”

The buzzing drowns out all else. Sad grey eyes.

“I hate you,” Harry whispered, and he meant it. Oh, he meant it.

”Benedice parvulum qui pro maiestate desinatus est!”

Father Alt drew his arm back and backhanded Harry across the face with all his might. The buzzing shattered.

Harry blinked at the exorcist.

“You must not speak to the demon!” Alt exclaimed. “Do not commune with him. He is the son of the Prince of Lies! Have you no common sense?”

Harry nodded slowly. Maul frowned and his eyes suddenly dimmed. A violent pain erupted on Harry’s forehead and he gasped. Harry’s eyes went dead and then they suddenly brightened again.

“Permitte mihi silere ut susmurros deorum audiam”, Harry said to the exorcist, feeling somewhat dazed, as if the words weren’t really his own.

Alt nodded slowly, releasing his grip on the young Auror’s shoulders. “Yes. Accipe ad quae te tatum astringit, et ama quibuscum te fatum covocat, sed fac de corde totaliter.“

Something retreated from Harry’s mind and he cried out, stumbling against the priest, feeling Draco’s absence like a blow.

The gusts picked up again and Maul let out an angry roar.

Alt looked deep into Harry’s eyes, his stern face swimming in Harry’s gaze. “Do not speak to Him. He will only lie to you. Protect your men from the plagues.”

Harry nodded and Father Alt turned away and walked back towards the center of the Dome. The exorcist lifted his hand and exclaimed: “Ich treibe dich aus, du unreiner Geist, gemeinsam mit der teuflischen Macht des Feindes, jedem Gespenst der Hölle und allen deinen üblen Gefährten; im Namen des Herrn Jesus Christus. Weiche und halte dich fern von diesem Geschöpf Gottes. Denn er ist es, der dir befiehlt, der dich kopfüber aus den Höhen des Himmels in die Tiefen der Hölle stieß. Er ist es, der dir befiehlt, Er, der einst die See und die Winde und den Sturm besänftigte. Höre nun und erzittere vor Furcht, Satan, Gegner des Glaubens, Feind der menschlichen Rasse, du Vater des Todes, du Räuber des Lebens, Verderber der Gerechtigkeit, du Wurzel allen Übels und allen Lasters; Verführer der Menschen, Verräter der Nationen, Anstifter des Neids, Quell aller Gier, Säer der Zwietracht, der Verursacher von Schmerz und Leid...”

Draco threw his head back and screamed, the angry sound wretched and ringing in their ears.

Shaken, Harry turned to Ron who looked back at him with searching eyes.

“It’s begun,” Ron said in the most serious voice Harry had ever heard him use.

~*~

A/N:

Quid tum Latin; “What then?” Sort of a slang way of saying “What’s up?”

Etsi hoc corpus morietur, tamen ego perseverabo Latin; Means roughly “This body may perish, but I shall continue.”

Per quamque solutionem problema est Latin; means roughly “There is a solution for every problem.”

Innocentia mortua est Latin; means roughly “Innocence is dead”. Maul is basically saying that there is no more innocence in his Host.

Anima mala Latin; means “Evil soul”. Maul is just taunting him now.

Benedice parvulum qui pro maiestate desinatus est Latin ; means “Bless the child who is destined for greatness.” Maul is attempting to seduce Harry into giving up.

Permitte mihi silere ut susmurros deorum audiam Latin; means roughly “Allow me to be silent so I can hear the whispering of the gods.” Remember this is Draco speaking through Harry’s mouth.

Accipe ad quae te tatum astringit, et ama quibuscum te fatum covocat, sed fac de corde totaliter Latin ; “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” This is Alt’s response to Draco.

“Ich treibe dich aus, du unreiner Geist, gemeinsam mit der teuflischen Macht des Feindes, jedem Gespenst der Hölle und allen deinen üblen Gefährten; im Namen des Herrn Jesus Christus. Weiche und halte dich fern von diesem Geschöpf Gottes. Denn er ist es, der dir befiehlt, der dich kopfüber aus den Höhen des Himmels in die Tiefen der Hölle stieß. Er ist es, der dir befiehlt, Er, der einst die See und die Winde und den Sturm besänftigte. Höre nun und erzittere vor Furcht, Satan, Gegner des Glaubens, Feind der menschlichen Rasse, du Vater des Todes, du Räuber des Lebens, Verderber der Gerechtigkeit, du Wurzel allen Übels und allen Lasters; Verführer der Menschen, Verräter der Nationen, Anstifter des Neids, Quell aller Gier, Säer der Zwietracht, der Verursacher von Schmerz und Leid...” German; means “I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every Satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from hell, and all your fell companions; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Begone and stay far from this creature of God. For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of heaven into the depths of hell. It is He who commands you, He who once stilled the sea and the wind and the storm. Hearken, therefore, and tremble in fear, Satan, you enemy of the faith, you foe of the human race, you begetter of death, you robber of life, you corrupter of justice, you root of all evil and vice; seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, instigator of envy, font of avarice, fomentor of discord, author of pain and sorrow....”

I’ll respond to reviews in just a sec…

OK, I jst went over the chapter and noticed an extraodinary amount of typos. I apologize. I'll fix them as soon as possible. This chapter was a right bitch to write up. (Pardon my language.) But it was a toughy. Took me over a week.

Anyhoo, grumblings aside, I'm posting this story on hpfandom.net now if its any easier for you guys to read it. Apparently, it doesn't post ages...? I was commanded to archive there, I'm still learning about the site.


Rettavex: I'm glad you liked it. I remember realizing that Harry hasnt really seen Maul, or, at least, in the sense that he's not actually spoken tohim or been a victim of his cruelty. So I wanted to have that moment so when they meet again, its personal. Thanks for your review!



Lilith: Thank you! Yes....Maul is definitely not a character that was designed to be likable, lol. Evil prick. Thanks for your review and I hope you enjoyed the update!



paigeey07: Thank you!



Mangacat: Amen sister! Thank you so much for your review!



Mangacat: *grins* Oh, I had to write the slash before the battle smut. I just had to. thanks for your review!



Mangacat: Yes, I wanted Harry to walk into the next chapter with VENDETTA written on his forehead. I know that Latin is crap, I made up for it, I think, in this chapter. I'll fix it when I can. I hope you enjoyed the update and thank you for your review!



MeLaiya: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Welcome to the story! I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Thank you for your review!



Paige Taylor: *cackles maniacally* I'm thrilled someone thought htat was funny too. I just thought it was hilarious. Such a ridiculous exchange between them at odds with the serious subject matter surrounding them...Thank you for your review and I hope you enjoyed the update!