Gone Awry

"Operation 'Give them something to Glare about'?" Tracy asked as they went down the corridor towards the common room. "Sorry, but that's a stupid name."

Ash frowned at her. "Really?" she asked turning to Blaise who nodded and shrugged.

"How about Operation Glare to make it short?"

"Better," they all agreed as they stepped into the common room.

Smiling they went up to the already waiting Draco and together they made their way to the carriages that would bring them to Hogsmeade.

Ash had never seem such a nice town before. It looked just like the pictures that you normally find on Christmas cards; little thatched cottages and shops all covered in a layer of crisp gleaming white snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees. In the background a picture book landscape of snowy Mountains completed the picture.

"Why is there snow here? It hasn't even snowed yet." Ash looked at Draco confused. It was her first time visiting the village.

"To be honest, I'm not to sure myself. I'm thinking that the people in this town just really like how it looks in winter so they made a spell that will always make it winter." Draco shrugged.

"But don't they get sick of the snow at some point?"

"Don't think so."

Ash shrugged as the four of them entered the small Christmas village. "So where do you want to go? Or the better question probably is, what is there to see?"

"How about we go to the Three Brooms first and get something to drink and maybe a bit of food?" Tracy suggested and they agreed.

The Three Broomsticks was nice little pub in the middle of Hogsmeade. It was very warm and cosy and surprisingly clean, considering it was a pub, although it was a bit smoky.

"What can I bring you dears?" a good looking lady with blond looks asked as the sat down on an empty table.

"I'd like a mead please."

"How old are you, dear?"

"16, why?" Ash asked confused.

"Mead is only allowed 17 up."

"Oh, OK. Then I'll take a Butterbeer?" Ash asked, unsure if that was allowed for under age wizards. "Warm please."

The lady smiled and nodded, the others also ordered a Butterbeer.

"Why did you think they'd give you meat?" Tracy asked once the Bartender-Lady was gone.

"Well, I Germany the drinking laws seem to be different then here. Mead, Wine and such are legal from 16 onwards. After the party I thought that was here as well..." Ash shrugged. Anyway, what is there to do in this little town?"

"Depends on what your looking for. There Hunnydukes, Zonko's Joke Shop, Dervish & Banges and Gladrags Wizardwear and a Quill shop if you need new Quills." Tracy started.

"Good places to sit and drink are the Three Brooms and Hogs Head." Blaise continued.

"Also there is Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. But people only go there on dates which I don't understand because that place is simply awful." Draco finished.

"Draco's already staring to get nightmares from that place," Blaise snickered joint by the other two. Draco growled.

"Its not that bad," Tracy insisted. "The cakes are pretty good."

They stopped talking for a bit when Madam Rosmerta came back with their beverages and asked them if they wanted anything else. They each ordered a dish and continued their conversation once Madam Rosmerta was gone.

"Oh and before we forget, we'll have to show you the Shrieking Shack - it's the host haunted house in the whole of Britain."

"Ron told me about it! Although its not very scary if you know the story behind the Shack."

"The Story?"

"Yeah, don't you know?" The three long time Slytherin's shook their head. Ash quickly glanced left and right of her and leaned in to the others, who followed her example. "It's not haunted," she whispered.

"Of course it is. When I was there with Crabbe and Goyle in my third year, I was attacked by the ghost that lives there!" Draco insisted.

Ash tried to hold back her laughter. "It seemed fond of Ron and Hermione, right? Not attacking them, only you and the goons."

"How'd you know?"

"What do I get for telling you?"

"How about a kiss," he whispered into her ear making her giggle.

"Intriguing, but not nearly good enough" she whispered back.

"And I'll pay your food." he sighed. Ash grinned over her whole face and then tapped her cheek. Rolling his eyes, Draco leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "You do know that that can't really be counted as a kiss, right?" Draco said, but Ash just smiled.

"Alright, well that ghost of yours was Harry. He was under his invisibility cloak and saw you terrorizing his friends, hence he thought he'd give you a little scare."

Draco's eyes scrunched up as he looked at her. "Another reason to not like Potter."

"OK, I understand Draco being tricked, but its common knowledge that the Shack is haunted! How can you say its not?" Tracy asked quietly.

"Well that story goes back a bit further. Do you guys remember Remus Lupin, I think he was the DADA professor in your 3rd year," the others nodded. "Well, as you probably already know, he's an werewolf. He was one, before he even came to Hogwarts. So in order to keep him away from his fellow peers on full moon nights Dumbledore had the Shack built in 1971. The yells and shouts that the villagers always heard was Lupin when she attacked himself, due to lack of victims."

Draco and the others started at her. "How'd you know?"

"Ron told me."

"And what makes you think that he would know?"

"Well, first of he's friends with Harry, who's father was best friends with Lupin, also I know Lupin personally and he assured me that it was true."

Her friends looked at her in awe. "Your right, if you know the story the shack really isn't that scary any more," Blaise stated after a minute of silence when Madam Rosmerta brought the food.

"Sorry for taking the haunted fun out of the Shack."

"Nah, its alright the fun was starting to extinguish anyway. Still wanna see it though?"

"Of course!" Swiftly they finished up their food and paid - with Malfoy paying her part of the bill as well.

"You know what, guys? I still have to go and send of this letter, how about you guys look at the shack and in the mean time I'll go to the post office?" Tracy suggested.

"I'll come with you," Blaise stated.

"I guess that leave us two, huh?" Ash asked Draco who nodded. "Alright, see you guys later at Hundydukes?" Ash asked and her friends nodded excitedly. Ash turned around once more after they split up to see Tracy and Blaise looking after them and winking at her.

Briskly she turned back around and turned red when Draco offered her his arm, which she accepted gratefully.

Once they reached the 'haunted' Shack they stood quietly next to each other and looked at it.

"Well" Ash said after a while. "I understand why people believed its haunted. It looks really creepy." Draco nodded.

"You are sure that it isn't, right?" It was Ash's time to nod.

Suddenly a cold wind brushed past her left ear, making her shiver.

"You cold?" Draco asked concerned when he noticed her shivering.

"No, its -" she started but then another blow brushed her ear, this time it was the other one making her jump. Hurriedly she turned around and glared.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked.

"Someone's here," she said and started searching the floor for footsteps appearing out of no where. She didn't find any though, the snow was already to hard. Suddenly Draco was pushed into the snow. "Are you alright?" she asked, crouching down next to Draco to help him up.

"Yeah... its Potter again, isn't it?"

"I think so," Ash answered when an snowball hit the back of Draco's head. Brushing the snow out of his hair Ash held onto Draco and glared around. "Stop it!" she yelled.

"What are you doing here with him?" Ash heard a familiar voice appear somewhere on her left, but it wasn't Harry's.

"I was looking at the Shack with him. Is that illegal?" She didn't get an answer only saw another snowball fly at them. Ducking out of the way she and Draco stood back up and looked around. "This isn't Harry, Draco." Draco looked at her concerned then turned back around to keep an better look at their surroundings.

"What are you doing here?" Ash yelled, hoping it would distract their attacker long enough for them to figure out where he is. "How did you find out where I am?"

"It wasn't very hard to do, Ash. I just had to follow the bread crumbs," the voice snickered. "First I went to Kat, she wasn't very willing to talk I must admit..."

"What did you do to her?" Ash gasped.

"Oh, I just asked her if she could tell me where to find you. But she couldn't even answer such an easy question, stupid girl. Even after a few days of torture, she just wasn't intelligent enough to spit it out. So very unlike Jeremy though. He just saw me and got weak knees. Blurted out everything I needed to know." Ash could hear the smile creeping into the invisible man's face.

"Are they alright?" Ash asked quietly her voice shaking.

"Of course they are, its not like I could hurt your oh so precious little friends. You would never forgive me. But I do suggest you don't eat those cookies Kat sent you. I got the feeling she blamed you for all the pain she went through. Poor, poor Kat. She lost her mind..."

By now she was frantically searching for the source of the voice, subconsciously clinging onto Draco's robes.

"Keep him talking," Draco whispered to her, his eyes scanning the landscape.

"Wh-Wha- What do you want?" Ash sobbed, tears starting to pour out of her eyes.

"What I want? You know what I want, its the only thing I ever wanted - you." the voice chimed. "You belong to me, Ash. You know we are meant to be."

"She doesn't want anything to do with you, you freak!" Draco yelled.

"Quiet!" the voice yelled and sent an spell flying towards Draco that made his fly backwards and hit a tree at the far end of the clearing.

"No!" Ash cried as she struggled to get to Draco. "Please stop it!" she called looking around. "Don't hurt him!"

"You want me to stop hurting him? But I haven't done anything yet. He tried to steal you away from me. I can't let that slip so easily."

Another spell was fired and struck Draco's chest. Draco yelled out in pain as the spell clung to his chest sending waves of pain through his body. He was jerking uncontrollably, lashing out and hitting Ash every now an again because she was cowering over him trying to hold him down. Slowly he was loosing his conciousness.

"Stop it!" she cried. "Stop it! I'll do anything, just stop torturing him, please!" The screaming subdued. Ash was hovering over Draco, hugging him to her chest, slowly Draco regained his conciousness. "Thank you... Thank you..."

"Ash, my love, you know I can't just believe that you'd do anything. You already tricked me once." Ash looked up, trying to see the person behind the voice. "But I believe I can cure you of your delusions. A short time under the Cruciatus Curse and you will belong to me again."

Ash's eyes widened as the red beam hit her and an unbearable pain cursed trough her body. Every cell in her body wanted to tare away from her, every muscle was ripping, every nerve was on fire and every vain broke apart . Screaming her lungs out she willed herself to stay awake, to not give into the pain and lose her conscious.

From the corner of her eyes she saw Draco standing up and flinging himself towards thin air, only that he actually hit something.

The pain broke away. The sudden lack of pain nearly made her loose her consciousness again. Aggravatingly slow Ash managed to get up from the snow and stumbled towards the 'hovering' Draco who was punching the invisible body under him over and over again.

Gently Ash placed an hand on his shoulder blade to get him to stop. He gave to air one more punch and then rolled off of the body, taking the invisibility cloak with him and revealing what she had guessed to be Patrick.

But what Ash saw wasn't Patrick like she used to know him. What she was nearly made her sick. His once Angelic face was twisted into an everlasting mask of pain and horror. His once perfect body was disproportional and he was missing several fingers and an ear. Only the mark of You-Know-Who was still as untainted as the first time she had seen it.

Quietly Ash cast an stunning spell and turned away from the disfigured body.

Tenderly Draco went over to her and took her into him arms as the tears flowed out of her eyes freely.

They just stood there, not moving, not saying a word until a couple of people came running up from the village and found the scene.